By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

THE Bahamian investor group that acquired the former Bacardi factory has approached the Government about constructing a $90 million waste-to-energy plant at the southern New Providence site, its principal yesterday telling Tribune Business it aimed to slash electricity costs by "50 per cent or more".

Tennyson Wells, the former Cabinet Minister and MP who heads the Source River group, said the proposed plant would not deliver power just to its water/juice production operations, but also to tenants renting the 380,000 square feet of warehouse and office space at the former Bacardi site and, potentially, surrounding residential subdivisions.

Emphasising that the 62-acre property, located just south of Carmichael Road, had "huge potential", Mr Wells told Tribune Business that - at full build-out and with space 100 per cent rented - between 500-700 persons could be employed there. He estimated that just 15 per cent of the available space had been leased to date.

And, emphasising that the waste-to-energy plant was a key part of Source River's strategy, the former Cabinet Minister also disclosed to this newspaper that the investor group was developing a 65-lot subdivision on the southern boundary of the site, bordering the New Providence shoreline.

But, while all relevant planning and subdivision approvals had been received, and infrastructure and "rough roads" put in, Mr Wells said no sales had been made because there was "no market" due to the economy.

Expressing hope that the Bahamian economy might soon begin a visible turnaround, the Source River principal told Tribune Business: "The other thing we have on the drawing board is to put a waste-to-energy plant there.

"We made an approach to the Government in October last year to do waste-to-energy. The site is geared towards light manufacturing, and there's 380,000 square feet of warehouse and office space there.

"We wanted to put in a waste-to-energy plant so we could sell power to people who occupied the site. If we can get the approvals, we can give people energy for $0.20 per Kilowatt Hour (KwH), instead of $0.30-$0.40 per KwH."

A waste-to-energy plant would also have the added environmental benefits through recycling much of the waste produced by Source River and its tenants, helping to push the Bahamas further down the road to renewable energy.

It is not the first waste-to-energy plant proposed for the Bahamas, though. The former Ingraham administration spent several years looking at such a facility at the Tonique Williams-Darling Highway landfill, without ever bringing it to fruition, while there has been much talk to-date about a waste-to-energy plant for Grand Bahama.

Mr Wells said Source River was looking at a waste-to-energy plant with 20 Mega Watts (MW) capacity, and told Tribune Business: "The people we are dealing with estimate it will be somewhere in the region of a $90 million investment, the plant and the generators to turn the waste into energy.

"The entire thing, to have it up and running, is probably around $90 million. It could be more or less. That's the projection they gave us; the people who have the patent for the plant."

Estimating that the waste-to-energy plant might create 20-30 full-time jobs when constructed and operational, Mr Wells added: "The value of it is to the people who use the site."

And, apart from the businesses and residences occupying the former Bacardi site, the waste-to-energy plant could also supply surrounding subdivisions in southern New Providence. Mr Wells noted that Venice Bay and South Seas lay to the west and east, respectively, with South Seas west to the south.

But supplying these subdivisions will require the Government to amend the Electricity Act, and for the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) to reconfigure its grid system, to enable the waste-to-energy plant to link into it.

"If they give us the approval to do it, and the right to tie into and feed the BEC grid electricity, that is all we need to be on our way," Mr Wells told Tribune Business.

As for the economic impact if Source River realises its vision, the former Cabinet minister added: "It's huge if it comes to its full potential. It'll be a huge impact on the economy, as we could have about 500, 600, 700 people working there.

"If the economy is moving in the right direction, and we're getting spaces rented for light industry, it's ideal, particularly if we get the waste-to-energy plant done, as people will be getting power at half the cost they are now, or less than half the cost.

"It will relieve the site of excess waste and stuff like that, as we're recycling that via waste-to-energy."

Mr Wells estimated that Source River had already leased space to between six-10 tenants, and added: "I don't think we've rented 15 per cent of it."

Acknowledging that the recession, and subsequent slow recovery, had impacted the 40 investor-strong Source River's plans, Mr Wells said they had all the approvals in place for their subdivision development.

The 65 lots are priced at between $250,000-$280,000 for waterfront property, and $80,000 for inland real estate.

"All we have done so far is roughed out the roads and laid out the lots," Mr Wells told Tribune Business. "We started to put fill in, but stopped that. Land is not selling.

"It's not on hold, but there's just no market. No one is buying land..... We hope that with the change in government things turn around a bit sooner rather than later."