By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

More than 80 percent of Exuma’s energy demand will be met from a solar plant due to come online in mid-2026, Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) chief executive disclosed yesterday.

Toni Seymour told the Exuma Business Outlook conference that the partnership between Inti Corporation and Osprey, which won the bid to construct the island’s utility-scale renewable energy project, will soon start development on a 62-acre site located near BPL’s existing Georgetown generation plant.

“I’m pleased to say that Inti and Osprey were the winning bidders for the microgrid in Exuma,” she said. “It is planned to be a 62-acre parcel of solar. It should be about 10.6 mega watts (MW) of solar, a 72 MW-hours battery storage system as well as 16.5 MW of liquefied natural gas (LNG) power generation.

“That is going to be located in Georgetown very close to our existing generation facility which sits at about 27 MW. The peak load in Exuma right now is between 11 MW and 12 MW, so that will give you easily over 80 percent of your generation from solar. The expected completion date is mid-2026.

“You should start to see progress on that project in the coming months in terms of on land clearing, ground breaking and geotechnical surveys etc. I think that’s a step in the right direction. It definitely reduces the amount of diesel we have to transport there by boat. It definitely reduces emissions. We’re definitely moving to sustainable, cleaner and greener energy throughout The Bahamas and particularly Exuma in the coming months.”

Inti Corporation, whose head is Owen Bethel, the former Bahamian financial services executive, has played a key role in developing the first two renewable energy projects that are supplying Grand Bahama Power Company.

Ms Seymour, meanwhile, echoed Cyprian Gibson, the Water & Sewerage Corporation’s deputy general manager for New Providence, by confirming that post-COVID energy demand on many Bahamian islands had exceeded BPL’s forecasts was straining its energy infrastructure.

“We have load projections that we go through annually like Water & Sewerage,” she said. “We were used to 2.5 percent to 3 percent growth, but in the last two to three years it’s been between 5 percent to 8 percent growth on New Providence and some of the larger Family Islands, Exuma included. That puts strain on the network, which is why we brought in temporary rental generation to boost reliability of supply to the island.

“Our primary challenge is funding as well and aging infrastructure. Exuma’s power grid is well over 20 years-old. It requires significant upgrades to move us forward but BPL and the Government of The Bahamas are committed to that.”

Mr Gibson concurred, adding of the Water & Sewerage Corporation: “The biggest challenge is funding. Funding for infrastructure. We operate 80 water systems in over 25 islands and cays throughout The Bahamas. To fund that infrastructure is a heavy task.

“The second item that’s a good thing for Exuma is growth. Typically we project 3 percent growth on average per annum in the Family Islands. Tourism, 20 percent growth. What happens with unexpected growth, when we forecast for 20 years and that growth happens in five years, that puts stress on the infrastructure to respond to that and you can’t build a water system overnight.”

Mr Gibson said the projects comprising the Water & Sewerage Corporation’s latest $9.1m investment in Exuma are all more than 90 percent complete. These include eight miles of water mains to Little Exuma, three miles of mains replacement for Georgetown and a distribution extension for Black Point.