Power from Florida in $1bn plan by DNA

As of Friday, April 10, 2015

Christopher Mortimer

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

DEMOCRATIC National Alliance Deputy Leader Chris Mortimer yesterday proposed a $1 billion plan to transform electricity provision in The Bahamas.

The plan, which aims to curb electricity prices in the long run, would see power provided to The Bahamas by a Florida power plant via a submarine electrical cable running from a Florida electrical grid to Clifton Pier.

Mr Mortimer, who said the project would take about two years to complete, compared his proposal to a project currently taking place between Canada and the United States. The project would see a “Lake Erie connector” run from Ontario, Canada, into Pennsylvania, US.

“One of the major issues impacting our country is the issue of power and the cost of power primarily,” he said during a press conference, adding that the country should take advantage of its “strategic location”.

“The Bahamas cannot continue to be a successful country for corporations and for mom and pop businesses without dealing with this issue. BEC spends on average between $700m and just over $1bn every year purchasing fuel in a system that is archaic and does not serve our country well. We are advancing a proposal that we believe will dramatically alter the cost of power in The Bahamas. We are going to deliver the cheapest per kilowatt of power in the region. We’re going to take advantage of our strategic location. We’ve done this before in various platforms.

“There is a submarine electrical cable that will run from the electrical grid, power generation in Florida to Clifton Pier. Using that system, we are going to propose what we call the Bahamas Clean Power Project, which will link the energy grid in New Providence to the power distribution grid in South Florida. Florida (Power &) Light has the capacity to supply all the needs of The Bahamas. We propose that this particular entity, this project, be something that will be 70 per cent owned by the Bahamian people and a source of revenue generation for our people and our country.”

The project, Mr Mortimer said, should not have a significant impact on jobs at BEC.

“I think the greater question is this: What’s the impact on jobs if we do not do it?” he asked. “Because the fact, is business can’t survive now because the cost of power is too expensive.”

The Christie administration is currently reviewing plans to reform the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, the state-owned power provider.

The government is expected to soon announce the name of the company that will receive a management contract to operate BEC. However the selection process has stalled.

In August 2013, when he first announced plans for BEC reform, Prime Minister Perry Christie said contracts for the proposal would be signed by the end of that year.

John 9 years ago

This clearly sounds like a step into more darkness. So what happens when this cable gets damaged? It takes days sometimes to repair cables on land. A submarine cable will require a ship with special equipment. How long will it take for the ship to get here? If the plan would take two years to implement why can't BEC's existing plant be renovated and refurbished over a similar time frame? The cost of the submarine cable could probably purchase the first new, fuel efficient engine. What about distribution after the power gets her and proper billing and accounting for electricity. Is this another pie in the sky or a pipe dream?

proudloudandfnm 9 years ago

Run a drop chord to Florida?

An island for vagrants....

Bran man... What kind of stuff you smoking?

Let's allow a foreign power to control our electric supply?

BEC does not spend a billion a year on fuel.

BEC overstaffing is a HUGE contributing factor to our super expensive electric costs.

A 240 mile long underwater cable would be a bitch to troubleshoot if something went wrong.

And where yinna ga get all dis money from anyway????

proudloudandfnm 9 years ago

DNA is a bunch of children....

SP 9 years ago

Excellent, practical and workable idea....Extremely poor presentation!

Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years ago

Not sure which is goofier....Mortimer's idea or his bugs bunny ears!

TalRussell 9 years ago

Comrades cuz it foreigner owned is no guaranteed formula it goin be any cheaper. isn't there foreigner ownership supplying Grand Bahama with their power? A recent report states that locally based Grand Bahama businesses and households are paying a crippling (383) per cent more in power costs than their Florida-based counterparts. The DNA ain't even won no seat in House of Assembly and they done gone's, all foreigner on the natives. How could a political party that doesn't have even an elected by convention delegates leader, or party executives, receive so much red newspaper coverage? I guess, they is more red than green?

bandit 9 years ago

Think about it though. In Florida they are not just using fossil fuel to run their power plants. In Florida they actually have nuclear power in addition to very large solar fields to generate power. There is no such system here in the Bahamas. We depend solely on one source for power.

Major_Pain 9 years ago

Snore :-(

proudloudandfnm 9 years ago

SP - 1.2 billion to lay this cable. Practical?

US would control our power.... Practical?

Troubleshooting a 240 mile long cable submerged in hundreds of feet of water? Practical?

Keeping BEC overstaffed is practical?

Bran fans are no different than the grass root voters. They'll take anything their party (Bran) says as gospel....

DUMB ASS IDEA......

TalRussell 9 years ago

Comrades no shortage Monday morning humor when we think that the same BEC that can't fix a big ass 50,000 lbs, big ass made steel generator steering them right in eyes, will all of a sudden be capable of troubleshooting and fixing a non-functioning submersible power cable, burried at 500 feets under water and running 240 miles all way from Florida to Nassau Town. Good luck waiting ya lights come back on, as the new BEC, try properly diagnose and repair cables under 500 feets water, Am I da only one laughing?

Economist 9 years ago

Undersea power line from Norway to Denmark...more to come.

"The 240-kilometer cable across the Skagerrak Strait separating southern Norway and northern Denmark is Norway’s first new power link to Denmark since 1993. Called Skagerrak 4, its high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converters—the electronic units at either end of the line that transform AC into high-voltage DC and vice versa—are also the building blocks for more ambitious cables from Norway to wind-power heavyweights Germany and the United Kingdom. Construction on those is expected to commence during the coming year."

Maybe more real than we think!

duppyVAT 9 years ago

Why is this such a "foolish idea"???????? We have less than 100,000 active BEC customers!!!!!!! Thats nothing for FPL to supply electricity to!!!!!! Not even a small county in Florida.

bandit 9 years ago

This proposal is not impossible to do because cables are already running from South America to North America as far as communication cable for giants companies such as ATT. But as mentioned in other post, do we want to have a foreign company in a foreign land control our power source. That is something that needs to be thought through thoroughly.

The Tribune