By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The Family Island renewable energy tender process has sparked more than 100 questions from potential bidders and interested investors, a Cabinet minister has revealed.

JoBeth Coleby Davis, minister of energy and transport, told Tribune Business that the response to the bidding process has been "great" as the Government awaits the submission of final proposals from independent power producers (IPPs) offering solar, other renewable and microgrid solutions.

She said: “We are still in the timeline, we are still on schedule, just waiting for the proposals to come in. The proposals are due February 9. And once they are in there’s an evaluation period of 21 days, which is managed by the energy committee.

“We had over 100 questions. We had 100 companies alone organised by the US Embassy on a webinar that wanted just a little bit more detail on the technical side. That was managed by myself and [Shevonn] Cambridge, chief executive of Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) and our technical director for the ministry. So, I mean, it's been great. It's going well.

Last month, the Davis administration unveiled an RFP process to introduce renewable energy generation on several Family Islands including Abaco, Andros, Bimini, Eleuthera, Exuma, Long Island, Rum Cay, San Salvador and the Berry Islands.

The proposed solution aims to combine 25 Mega Watts (MW) of renewable solutions with an “additional” 90 MW of “prime power generation” across multiple Family Islands.

As for transitioning New Providence's baseload electricity generation to liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel, Mrs Coleby Davis said this process is still in the "early stages". She added: “We are still in the early stages, so probably in the next few months I'll be in a better position to say.”