The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A former Cabinet Minister yesterday said that while he backs the move to take government buildings off the energy grid, making these properties more energy efficient should be “priority number one”.

Phenton Neymour, who had ministerial responsibility for the then-Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) under the former Ingraham administration, told Tribune Business: “To take the Government buildings off the grid is something I agree with. I am not of the view, however, that it will have any impact in the short-term.

“Yes, these buildings may feed excess power to BPL(Bahamas Power & Light) during the day, which I doubt, because government buildings are the most inefficient buildings that we have.

“We have done energy audits and have found that to be true. There is an excess of 30 per cent saving potential in government buildings. That was determined by the Fichtner study,” the former minister added.

“I’m of the view that the Government’s objective in energy should be more focused on making government buildings more energy efficient; first by beginning to turn off the lights at night, and secondly by putting in efficient air conditioning units.”

Kenred Dorsett, minister of the environment and housing, said in a recent statement that government buildings will be taken off Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) electrical grid, starting next year.

Anatol Rodgers High School will be the ‘pilot project’ for a commercial-scale solar facility, generating up to 300 kilowatts of electricity for the school.

“The Anatol Rodgers project will serve as a blueprint for how other public buildings, especially the more than 150 public schools throughout the Bahamas, can be systematically removed from the electrical grid,” Mr Dorsett said.

“It is also intended that the national stadium and swimming complex, the botanical gardens, the Lynden Pindling International Airport and the Office of the Prime Minister will shortly follow with photovoltaic retrofit as funding becomes available.”

Mr Neymour added: “They would have to review all of these facilities and put in a suitable system to be of benefit.

“ The other issue is that if they put in solar that is not a 24-hour service that would be provided to the building. In other words, BPL will still have to be providing services to them from the evenings to the mid-mornings.  It is unfortunate because the higher demand is generally in the evenings for BPL, and so they will still be having issues.”

The former minister continued: “I disagree with the position that taking the buildings off the grid will not cause a significant reduction in revenue, because the Government is one of the largest customers of BPL.

“Whether one believes it or not, the Government does provide a revenue source to BPL. The Government has bills it must pay. In return, BPL has taxes it must pay. I don’t think they are going to be providing any significant amount of money back to BPL because they don’t have the land space for sufficient panels to be placed.”