By FARRAH JOHNSON

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE construction of the electrical grid set to bring renewable energy to storm-ravaged Ragged Island is set to be completed this year.

In July 2019, the contract to build the electrical grid was awarded to Tugliq Energy Corporation, an independent power producer that specialises in reducing a client’s reliance on fossil and diesel fuel for power generation.

Speaking to reporters at the Canada-Bahamas Reconstruction and Resilience Business Forum Friday, Nicholas Seguin, Tugliq’s business development director, said “30-40- percent” of the solars panels have already been installed.

“We are doing the installation as we speak in Ragged Island for the solar part and the energy storage component as well is coming a bit later this year,” he said.

“The liner on the ground is fully installed, the concrete beams are fully installed, the posts are fully installed and now they’re working into installing the solar panels on the arrays.”

Mr Seguin explained that the purpose of the system is to displace around 90-percent of the diesel fuel that is used for power generation on Ragged Island.

He added that when completed, the system will mostly be supplied by renewable energy.

“When there are cloudy days of course the diesel generator will have to be there as a backup, but in normal operation, it will be fully supplied by the solar system and the other battery system.”

Mr Seguin also said the plant is designed to sustain Category 5 plus winds.

“Category 5 if I’m correct is 157 mph, so it’s slightly above,” he said.

“We are working toward a stronger design up to 200-mph with Salt Energy, but at the moment it’s approved for 180-mph.”

Mr Seguin said construction on the plant began in November last year. He also said the solar portion of the project should be completed by the end of January.

Still, he admitted the battery storage will be completed “slightly later” because ordering the battery takes a “bit of time.”

“One thing that was great from the Bahamian government is that they built a new roll-on roll-of facility at the end of Ragged Island,” he added.

“So there was a brand new port facility allowing us to unload the containers, even use some of the backfill material for the lay out of the solar array.”

“As you know Ragged Island doesn’t have a lot of equipment on site so everything was barged in from mostly Freeport with a local contractor working out of Freeport.”

Stating that Ragged Island’s renewable energy system could work on other islands throughout the archipelago, he added: “I think distributed power generation could make a lot of sense where you have the central grid from BPL and in case of grid failure, those micro grids to be distributed –especially on the islands that have to cover more than 100-kilometres of power lines,” he said.

“It would make sense to have distributed solar rays in those specific locations so if you lose the power grid, you can still power back up probably faster than rebuilding the entire transmission line –at least for (a) really quick recovery.”

Mr Seguin also said his company has involved themselves in other tenders with the Bahamas Power and Light Company.

“We are awaiting the results that are not out yet and hopefully we can see if we could replicate the design or the concept of Ragged Island for other islands to increase resiliency on the power generation side.”