By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

IMPROVEMENTS are on the way for the power supply in Abaco and its cays, according to Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), as the company installs new units and rolls out a 30-day upgrade plan.

In a statement, BPL outlined works that will decrease the island’s reliance on rental generation units. It said Abaco has seen the arrival and installation of four generation units. Target cays include Hope Town in Elbow Cay, Man-O-War Cay and Guana Cay.

New and refurbished generators have been installed in Hope Town. According to the BPL’s statement, this has increased “capacity from 1.4MW to 3.6MW”. Noting this is the first time Abaco has seen two generators of such a size, it added this will ensure “added redundancy and protection against potential shortfalls on the mainland”.

“We are boosting our generation capacity on the northern cays,” regional manager Marvin Green said. “We have recently purchased three generators, and we have one deployed to Hope Town this morning, along with a larger fuel tank. Also would follow with a second unit that was refurbished in house. So that will increase the capacity in Hope Town to 3.6MW, which was before only 1.4 [MW]. We’re confident that that’s going to be sufficient to supply the residents of Elbow Cay.

“So we’re committed to increasing the generation capacity. And you will see we’re working on installing two units at Hope Town. We also have a larger fuel tank capacity there, and so we’re making sure that we’re ready for any shortfalls. That work is in progress, and we hope that to be completed within the next week or so.”

A new generator has been installed in Man-O-War Cay and is in operation, said BPL. A transfer upgrade increased the power output from 0.6MW to 1.8MW, a transfer upgrade was completed. BPL stated the system will be able to take on peak demand efficiently. The transformer upgrade will also allow for service to Montage Cay and Scotland Cay.

“We have already installed the new unit there a little over two weeks ago,” Mr Green said. We just got a larger transformer shipped in, came on the legacy this week. That’s going to be installed over the weekend to make sure that we have sufficient power for Man-O-War Cay.”

A new unit set to replace a 1.6MW rental generator is on the way to Guana Cay and will be able to serve Scotland Cay as well, “with a new capacity of 1.8MW - a major leap in energy security for both communities”.

“Likewise, we have a unit that is going to be deployed in Guana Cay where we now have a rental,” Mr Green said. “We’re going to be terminating that rental lease, and we’ll have our own generator there, and that’s going to make sure we have coverage also for Guana Cay and Scotland Cay, if need be. So we are committed, and we hope to be able to eliminate, significantly reduce the intermittent outages across the Abbacos.

“And at the same time, we are making great strides at Wilson City. We’re going to move from 50 percent availability up to 75 percent availability. We hope to test one of the newly repaired units over this weekend. And our fourth unit, we hope to have that ready within the next two to three weeks, bringing Wilson city back to 100 percent availability. So we are committed to making sure that our customers have a better experience and can afford reliable power going forward.”

Mr Green said a 750KW generator, an upgrade from the current 600KW was expected to arrive in Grand Cay over the weekend. He said the unit would be shipped from its supplier in Grand Bahama to Walker’s Cay.

“Additional investment also extends to BPL’s main generation station in Wilson City, where major progress is underway; while the island is currently operating on electricity being supplied by Units 2 and 3, repairs have been completed on Unit 1. Final testing is expected to take place over the weekend, introducing further redundancy and helping to eliminate the nuisance outages that many Abaconians have recently experienced. Once operational, Wilson City will have three fully functional units. Meanwhile, retrofitting on Unit 4—the final of four generation units at the site— is approximately 70 percent complete and is expected to be commissioned by the end of September. Once all power generation units have been brought online, Abaconians can look forward to more reliable power generation on island.”