Bahamas Eco-Forum

Energy Efficiency Workshop Identifies Savings for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

by Larry Smith

About 50 small businesspeople and consultants took part in a free one-day workshop on energy efficiency in Nassau on March 16 staged by the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank.

The workshop was part of the GREENPYME programme launched last year by the Inter-American Investment Corporation, which provides financing and advisory services to businesses throughout the region.

GREENPYME was set up to provide know-how, tools, and technical and financial support for implementing energy efficiency measures and clean technologies to help small and medium sized enterprises become more competitive.

BECs Shortlist for Renewable Energy Projects

by Larry Smith

Of the 13 companies that have submitted renewable energy bids to the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, two are proposing solar pv projects, two are proposing a combination of wind and solar generation, one is proposing wind generation only and one is proposing ocean thermal energy conversion. The remaining seven bids are for waste-to-energy projects.

Bahamas Renewable Energy Corp - wind/solar
Bahamas Renewable Energy Resources - waste-to-energy
Cambridge Development Inc - waste-to-energy
Enfinity - solar
Exuma Waste Management - waste-to-energy
GA Solar -solar
Globally Green Energy Consortium - waste-to-energy
GPEC Global Inc/Energy Solutions Bahamas - waste-to-energy
Norwin America - wind
OCEES International - OTEC
Plasco Energy - waste-to-energy
Protocol Energy International - wind./solar
Smart Power - waste-to-energy

The 13 bids will be evaluated by a consultant funded by a grant from the Inter-American Development Bank. Environment Minister Earl Deveaux has said he wants a waste-to-energy provider approved by March at the latest.

Bahamas Green Energy Initiatives

by Larry Smith

State Environment Minister Phenton Neymour told a group of engineers recently that the Bahamas was "highly vulnerable" to rising oil prices because our economy relies totally on fossil fuel imports - at a cost of a billion dollars last year alone.

"In the long term one can expect that supply and demand pressures that have temporarily eased will return as global economic activity returns," he said. "This vulnerability directly impacts our ability to secure the goods and services required to drive our economy."

There is widespread agreement on this point. In fact, representatives from 100 countries are meeting in Germany this week to set up the International Renewable Energy Agency - an intergovernmental body formed to address the "urgent need to transform the energy sector to one that uses renewable energies and energy-efficient technologies."

IRENA was formed to tackle the obstacles to this goal - such as counterproductive regulatory frameworks, technical barriers, insecure financing of renewable energy projects, and lack of awareness of renewable energy opportunities. It aims to speed up the global transition to a sustainable energy sector.

And after years of muddling, we in the Bahamas now seem to be well on the way to embracing this goal. A preliminary national energy policy has been drafted, and other initiatives are in the works that could significantly reshape our fossilised energy sector, which is growing at 8 per cent a year.

Bahamas Seeks to Develop 'Sustainable Energy Framework'

by Larry Smith

The government is searching for consultants to advise on the development of a policy and technical framework to implement renewable energy in the Bahamas. The Inter-American Development Bank is contributing $700,000 towards the cost of this 12-month programme.

The immediate goal is to upgrade the Bahamas Electricity Corporation's operational and financial capacity in order to minimise the country's dependence on fossil fuels. The consultants will also be expected to set a strategy for BEC's expansion, together with the integration of alternative energy sources.

The consultants will undertake an operational review of the corporation, determine how to integrate renewable power into the generation mix, and recommend a regulatory framework for sustainable energy independence.

Expressions of interest are being sought by the BEST Commission of the Bahamas Ministry of the Environment - the deadline for submissions is this week. Six applicants will then be shortlisted and asked to present full proposals based on a detailed terms of reference.

The government is also looking for a consultant to promote sustainability through energy efficiency and conservation programmes together with demonstration projects in the public and private sectors.

The consultant will be expected to design and implement a national energy efficiency plan, undertake an assessment of renewable energy potential in the islands (with particular reference to wind, solar, bioemass and ocean thermal energy conversion), and implement a long-term public education programme for sustainable energy.

Again, six firms will be shortlisted and asked to submit full proposals based on detailed terms of reference. The value of this 12-month contract is $750,000, also funded by the IDB.

Notes From the Electric Road

by Larry Smith

Hundreds of auto and energy industry leaders, as well as scores of media representatives, were in Washington DC this week for the Electric Drive conference - an event aimed at transforming the transportation industry.

There has been unprecedented interest in electric vehicles lately, and some conference sessions were standing room only. Many of the speakers made special note of this heightened interest in a technology that is still a few years away from mass production.

Many also pointed to the irony of the big three auto chiefs driving from Detroit to Washington in hybrid cars to ask Congress for billions of dollars to restructure their companies as conventional vehicle sales plummet.

Perhaps 13 million new cars and trucks will be sold in the US this year, down from more than 16 million in 2007. And some analysts predict that sales could drop to 11 million next year. There are 250 million vehicles on the road today in the United States and 750 million worldwide, and this figure is expected to grow to more than a billion in a few years

Bahamas Should Consider Hawaii Energy Initiatives

By Doug Cotton

As the national energy policy committee considers ways to move the Bahamas towards a cleaner energy future, recent steps by the state of Hawaii may offer some inspiration.

Hawaii’s economy also depends on imported oil, although - like The Bahamas - it is blessed with abundant sources of sun, wind, and ocean energy.

Earlier this year the state unveiled a Clean Energy Initiative, providing a road map towards a future where 70 per cent of electricity and ground transportation needs will come from renewable sources by the year 2030. Currently, the state gets only 10 per cent of its energy from renewable sources.

In June, the state amended its building code to require solar hot water heaters in all new homes beginning in 2010. In October, the government and major electric utilities agreed to implement energy reduction measures and increase the amount of renewable power generation to meet the 70 per cent goal.

These measures include the following:

Responses to BEC Rewnewable Energy RFP

 by Larry Smith

Companies submitting responses to BEC's Request for Proposals for renewable energy project:       

    ATLANTIC WIND AND SOLAR CORP           
    SILICON SOLAR BAHAMAS                                                      solar photovoltaic
    PROTOCOL ENERGY INTL                                                       wind/solar
    ENFINITY                                                                                    solar photovoltaic
    MEGA WATTAGE LLC                                                                solar photovoltaic
    PLASCO ENERGY                                                                     waste to energy
    BAHAMAS RENEWABLE ENERGY CORP.                               wind/solar
    GA SOLAR                                                                                  solar photovoltaic
    GGEC-GLOBALLY GREEN ENERGY                                        waste to energy
    EVELOP                                                                                      wind/diesel
    GPEC GLOBAL INC/ENERGY SOLUTIONS BAHAMAS           waste to energy
    GCG WORLDWIDE   
    IPC ENERGY                                                                               wind
    CVH POWER                                                                               solar thermal
    PYROLYZER LTD                                                                        waste to energy
    BAHAMAS RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES                    waste to energy
    GLOBAL LANDFILL SOLUTIONS INC.                                       waste to energy
    EMERA   
    EXUMA WASTE MANAGEMENT                                                waste to energy
    CARIB ALTERNATIVE ENERGY LTD.  
    INTERGRATED SOLAR SERVICES                                           waste to energy
    CAMBRIDGE DEVELOPMENT INC                                            waste to energy
    SMART POWER                                                                          waste to energy
    CAVITATION CONCEPTS CORP.   
    COMPLETE RENEWABLES                                                        hybrid
    OCEES INTERNATIONAL INC.                                                   OTEC
    NORWIN AMERICA LLC.                                                            wind
    ENERGY ENGINEERING CORP                                                wind/diesel

BEC Officials Working on RFP Shortlist

by Larry Smith

A spokesman for the state-owned Bahamas Electricity Corporation's Renewable Energy Committee said about 30 "serious international players" had responded to the Request for Proposals that closed on September 12 (see earlier posts on this site).

"The interest has been high," the spokesman said. "We had interest from people considered serious players in the renewable energy market internationally."

The committee will review the proposals over the next three months and then undertake a more detailed evaluation of the shortlisted projects, including site visits. Following that recommendations will be made.

The expectation is that BEC will have agreements in place with renewable energy providers by mid-2009, although actual generation of power may take longer to achieve.

"It is not unfeasible that we could have several providers," the spokesman said.

BEC asked for renewable energy proposals using four technologies - solar, wind, hydrokinetic and biomass - to generate up to 10 per cent of any Bahamian island's electricity needs. The goal is to reduce the country's reliance on imported fossil fuels.

Last year, BEC paid about $300 million for fuel. This year higher fuel costs drove the nation's consumer fuel surcharge to 24 cents a kilowatt hour in August. Rising public concern led the government to announce a cap on the surcharge at 15 cents for customers who use less than 800 kilowatt hours per month.

Over 5,000 customers in Nassau and Freeport who had been cut off by BEC for non-payment also had their service restored on the orders of the Cabinet.

LNG vs Solar—An Alternative Whose Time has Come

by Sam Duncombe

Over the last few weeks, the company that wants to build a liquified natural gas facility on Ocean Cay near Bimini to supply Florida, has been spewing a lot of hot air about running a pipeline to New Providence to supply the Bahamas Electricity Corporation with LNG.

AES says this will reduce our carbon emissions and cut our fuel bills. They have also thrown in a marine research facility in their latest attempt to bamboozle the Bahamian public. But this proposal is nothing more than public bribery and deceit.

What Are We Doing to Address Looming Energy Crunch?

by Larry Smith

Experts say that by using a land area smaller than 92 miles by 92 miles, a solar facility in the Nevada desert could power the entire US electricity grid.

This is about the same amount of land in the US that has been disturbed by coal mining, and about one fifteenth of the area once devoted to growing feed for horses. 

With the rising price of oil-fired, carbon-spewing electricity, this may seem like a no-brainer. But it requires a huge investment in transmission infrastructure - as well as political will.