The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce president says supplying power from the island to Abaco via an undersea electricity cable is “doable” but more details are required on the initiative.

James Carey told Tribune Business he was unsure how far advanced Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC) and the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) were on the initiative given there were signs that the announcement at last week’s Business Outlook conference may have been premature.

“I really didn’t know this was on the cards for GB Power and GBPA,” he said. “I think Mr Rolle was speaking a little bit out of turn when he mentioned it at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook because it is something GB Power is looking at is the implication that he gave.”

Ian Rolle, the GBPA’s president, told the Grand Bahama Business Outlook last week that running an electricity cable between the island and Abaco was a way to potentially stabilise electricity costs and bring rates down. He also suggested that such a venture would potentially expand GB Power’s customer base and provide additional redundancy for Abaco consumers who presently rely on Bahamas Power & Light (BPL).

“We feel if we are able to stabilise the cost of electricity.... we envision a cable possibly running from Grand Bahama to Abaco that would help to spread the cost over a larger population and add redundancy for our brothers and sisters next door to us,” he explained. “We hope that with the spreading out of cost, the rate, it will have a positive effect for all of us.”

Mr Carey noted that east Grand Bahama’s proximity to Abaco meant there had even been previous discussions about “building a bridge” between the two. Mr Carey said running a power cable between the two islands would present logistical and infrastructure challenges at the very least.

“I was a little bit confused there for a moment, so I guess it’s one of those things that we’ll have to wait and see, and when the opportunity comes by then I can go a little deeper if I get the opportunity,” Mr Carey added. “Mr Rolle also made mention of the fact that they’re looking at micro grid to service East Grand Bahama, which is not very populated and, you know, it’s a long run and, of course, the longer the run then the more electricity that’s lost in the power lines.

“But if you’re looking at a micro-grid to service East Grand Bahama, they can’t really be, in my view, looking at a cable connecting Abaco, because if you connect Abaco then the line must go through east Grand Bahama, so why micro grid if you’re going to be doing this massive infrastructure line to Abaco? So I don’t know if Mr Rolle and the GB Power are on the same page.”

GB Power, though, is making more concrete moves in the area of solar energy. It was joined by the GBPA in signing a four-party agreement, also involving the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), for construction of a $15m utility-scale solar project at two sites that will supply a combined 9.5 Mega Watts (MW) to the island’s electricity grid.

The deal will see Lucayas Solar Power begin construction on the Devon and Fairfield plants this month. The build-out of the two sites, which will provide 4.5 MW and 5 MW, respectively, is set to create some 80 construction jobs and be completed by the 2024 first quarter.

Lucayas Solar Power will operate as an independent power producer (IPP) that sells the electricity it produces to GB Power, which will then distribute it to its customer base via Grand Bahama’s electricity grid. GB Power will purchase the solar energy produced by the plants at a locked-in price of $0.09 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh) over the duration of a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Lucayas Solar Power.

Mr Carey said of the move: “Environmentally, it’s good. It looks good. From what was said the company [Lucayas] is majority Bahamian-owned. The power company here will be buying power from that plant. Of course, the dynamics in terms of what mark-up they will put on their cost, we don’t know. But I think it’s a good start and there was a suggestion that other companies were looking at solar plants in Grand Bahama

Grand Bahama uses up to 100 Mega Watts (MW) of energy, so the Lucayas Solar Power facilities will “take care of less than 10 percent, but it’s a step in the right direction”.