By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

The energy provider for Spanish Wells and other islands off Eleuthera yesterday confirmed it is willing to supply the mainland and Harbour Island’s but the Government must “get on board".

Morris Pinder, president and general manager for St George’s Cay Power Company (SGCPC), which also supplies Russell Island, West End Cay, Charles Cay and Royal Island, said it is still open to expanding its services and “logistically, all things are possible".

Recalling that Harbour Island once “petitioned” the Power Company to provide electricity to it, he added that ultimately any decision on whether it does so rests with industry regulator, the Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA).

“There would have to be a cable run from us to the mainland, and then a new cable would have to be run to Harbour Island because it was the people actually in Harbour Island who had petitioned us, especially the hotel owners,” Mr Pinder said.

“About maybe eight or nine of them came down at least twice and had meetings with us. But that all depended on the Government or URCA allowing that to happen. Of course we'd gladly sell energy to anyone that wants to buy. But URCA is the regulatory commission in The Bahamas, and they would have to decide if that's going to happen.

“We're willing to do our part. And if it can be resurrected to be brought back... I'm an optimist. I'm a firm believer that anything can be done if you want to do it. It can be done. And like I said, the Government will have to get on board.

A two to three years minimum completion was estimated if St George's was to be allowed to carry out this plans. Pointing to their initial strategy developed years ago, Mr Pinder said funding would be needed.

“Funding is the key to everything,” he added. “Our plan was to sell shares. And all of the hotels at that time in Harbour Island, the big hotels, they were willing to put money into it to see that it works - you know, to buy shares into it.” Mr Pinder said about five years ago, the Government put out a request for proposal (RFP) in search of a company “to take over either all of Eleuthera or north or just south".

“We offered to them to create a company,” Mr Pinder added. “We would run a cable from our power company across to the mainland, build another, smaller ,power station nearby Apple Hole, put in solar energy there, tie our solar energy into that.

"It would be the first grid tie within the country, and then they would allow us to serve all of North Eleuthera. We were offered, in our bid to them, 25 percent. BPL, at the time, would own in it but wouldn't be able to control it. It would be a company that would be sold. 

“For example, the grandmother in Lower Bogue, Eleuthera, who's got $500. She would be able to buy shares, and it would be sold out in shares and be a co-operative. Our company would own in it and administer it," he continued.

"It never got off the ground. The last thing I heard, someone in the FNM government came back and said, 'Well, we need to know how you're planning on financing that.' I said 'You're kidding me, right?' I said the people of North Eleuthera, that's how it's going to be financed. So it never got off the ground. And all of that is possible, but you need a government that's willing to allow it to happen.”

Mr Pinder said the plans never progressed, adding that St George's had partners including Korea Electric Power Corporation [KEPCO] “which serves all of the energy to Seoul and all of South Korea”, One Island Energy, Bahamas Energy & Solar [Supplies] “one of the best that The Bahamas has” and Island Site Development [ISD]."

“To give proper energy, you have to have better than 100 percent back-up,” Mr Pinder said. “In other words, let's say, if we're consuming three mega watts (MW), we need better than six MW of energy. You need at least 10 MW of energy in your plant.

"Because here's the scenario. What always happens, and I've always seen it, if you have let's say six generators, and it takes two of them to run your community, you're always going to have, out of those six, one that's down, doing repairs or even a total overhaul, because every 15,000 hours you have to rebuild that engine  depending on how hard you've used it.

"So you'll have that engine that's always there for repairs. And out of those others, you'll have one that's down for oil change, one that's down for just plain normal maintenance. And if you don't have that, you have a lot of sharing of energy, blackouts. So right now, we have enough to where we could supply us and Harbour Island, yes, no issue. But we would not have 100 percent back-up after that. 

"That's why we proposed to them to lease the property in Apple Hole from the Government, put another sub-station near with generators and solar, because we're installing, right now, 1,000 kilowatts of solar here at our power station. So we would have done a grid tie, our power station to that one, to the power station that's in Hatchet Bay," Mr Pinder said.

"That would be BPL's contribution towards it. And they'd own 25 percent in it but no controlling interest. So we would be getting energy from Hatchet Bay, Apple Hole, St George's Cay Power, and we would supply all of North Eleuthera including Harbour Island. That would be the first grid tie in The Bahamas."