The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

FOCOL Holdings’ top executive last night warned of the cyber threats facing The Bahamas’ energy grid and electricity infrastructure as they become increasingly digitised.

Dexter Adderley, FOCOL Holdings president and chief executive, said the push for smarter, more efficient power systems is also creating new vulnerabilities, thus making cyber security and data governance central to the future of energy law.

Speaking at a University of The Bahamas legal week seminar, he added that as energy grids become increasingly digital and interconnected, regulators and lawmakers are facing new challenges in protecting infrastructure from cyber threats.

“As our grids become smarter, more connected and more digitised, our energy law is now inseparable from issues of data governance, cyber security and national resilience - the same systems that improve efficiency and reliability also expand our exposure to cyber threats,” said Mr Adderley.

Referencing a recent cyber attack on Poland’s power grid that targeted critical energy infrastructure, including power plants and renewable energy management systems, Mr Adderley highlighted the vulnerabilities in modern electricity systems. 

He said The Bahamas’ national energy policy recognises this risk and outlines concrete measures to address it, such as segmenting networks, enforcing strict regulations and mandating cyber incident reporting.

“The lesson was clear. As grids modernise, the attack surface expands and governance must keep pace. Our own national policy on one national energy policy framework recognises this reality,” said Mr Adderley.

“It acknowledges that the digitisation and smart grids increase vulnerability to cyber threats, and it points to the concrete response - responses like network segmentation, multi-factor authentication, cyber security awareness training, strong derogatory requirements, including mandatory cyber reporting.”

Mr Adderley said lawyers are essential to energy reform, ensuring that legal frameworks keep pace with innovation, protect national security and create resilient systems for decades of technological change.

“Lawyers will be needed to draw standards, manage liability, govern data, oversee compliance and ensure that innovation does not outpace national security,” said Mr Adderley. 

“Energy reform, therefore, is not only about producing power. It is about producing systems, safeguarding sovereignty, ensuring that the legal architecture we build today can withstand the risk of tomorrow and decades of technological changes to come.”