The Tribune

The government’s “largest solar project” to-date will be officially opened on Monday at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium’s parking lot.

Dr Rhianna Neely-Murphy, senior environmental officer with the Ministry of the Environment and Housing, voiced hope that the 900 kilowatt (KW) solar car park “will awaken the minds of Bahamians” as to the economic and environmental benefits of solar and other renewable energy forms.

“The Ministry of the Environment and Housing is responsible for renewable energy in The Bahamas,” Dr Neely-Murphy said. “This is the largest project that we have been able to get off the ground so far, and it is the first one that we have been able to do through a grant. This is totally grant funded.

“We are happy to have this as a display piece to awaken the minds of Bahamians with respect to what can happen in their individual lives, and what could happen for us as a country with respect to renewable energy and diversifying how we ‘flip our switches’.”

Dr Neely-Murphy said the project resulted from a 2017 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the governments of the United Arab Emirates and The Bahamas.

Lyndee Bowe, an environmental officer with the ministry, said the solar car park project is a pilot development that could enable similar schemes to be rolled out throughout The Bahamas.

“We intend to roll out a number of solar initiatives this year; and this is just the first of many,” she said.

Scott Ferguson, project co-ordinator at the National Stadium, said the facility would directly benefit from the solar parking lot. He added that as a Bahamian he was “tremendously excited” about such a development.

“The facility itself will benefit a lot of the Bahamian public in terms of the power driving into the grid,” he said. “Each home consumes about 2.4 kilowatts of power. This facility is 900 kilowatts of power, so we are looking at about 600 homes being able to benefit from some of this power. It is one of the first prototypes that we see in the country, and we hope to see more.”

Robert Hall, senior project manager with Cavalier Construction, said: “The work, from our point of view, was excavation, reinforced concrete, structural steel work and fixing solar panels. It is good because of the utilisation of labour … and the labour was all Bahamian.”

He added that the three-month project involved a 30-member workforce, describing it as a “brilliant” idea for The Bahamas.

“I think that the Family Islands would benefit with this an awful lot,” Mr Hall said. “There is an outlay to it to put it in place, but it is the natural resources – you have the sun, you have plenty of sun. I think that it is a great idea, to be honest.”