NASSAU, The Bahamas – The Hon. Alfred Sears, Minister of Works and Utilities announced the new board of directors for Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) who will also serve on the board of Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC). 

They are as follows: Pedro Rolle, Chairperson; Daniel Ferguson, Deputy Chairperson, and Errol Davis, Anthony Farrington, Reneka Knowles, Dirk Simmons, Cheryl Simms and Nadia Storr. 

The announcement was made during a press briefing, November 22, 2021 at the E. Coburn Sands Building, Baillou Hill and Tucker Roads. Among those present were: Bacchus Rolle, Parliamentary Secretary; Luther Smith, Permanent Secretary; Whitney Heastie, CEO and members of the outgoing board including Dr. Donovan Moxey, former Chairman.

 Minister Sears expressed thanks to Dr. Moxey and the outgoing board of the two entities and welcomed the new board members. 

He spoke of the Government’s “ambitious” target to achieve 30 percent of the power generation comprising renewable energy by 2030, particularly in light of the effects of Hurricane Dorian. 

He said the goal is one that must be achieved, and resilience must be built: “we are fighting for the survival of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.”

 “That is the mandate -- BPL/BEC has to meet the emergency of now; the necessity of now.

 “I have no doubt that building on the work of the outgoing board, the board that the Cabinet has selected will achieve and get us as close as possible and possibly even beyond 30 percent renewable. 

“We have no shortage of renewable energy in The Bahamas – we can look outside and see it -- the sun how do we harness this energy so that we reduce the cost of electricity; how do we ensure that the plus $1billion that we spend every year on fossil fuel is reduced; how do we ensure that we have a more reliable and robust distribution and transmission system and how do we ensure that we can serve all of our islands and cays -- everybody -- not just the critical mass in New Providence and Grand Bahama -- but all of the district parts of this country scattered across 100,000 miles of sea.

 Mr. Rolle, a native of Exuma and president of the Chamber of Commerce, Exuma, accepted the challenge on behalf of the board referring to it as “necessary”. “Where we are is not good enough. Every succeeding year we must find ways to ensure that we offer sustainable – from the Family Island this is critical for me -- that power deliverance must be a national issue. How we do it -- what ways we come about in doing it is going to be critical for this board. We accept the challenge before us. 

“We are aware that delivering efficiently and economically clean energy to The Bahamas is more than just something we talk about. In order to make this happen, the greatest asset that we have would be the men and women who are instrumental in delivering the power. 

“It is our goal to ensure that we work together that everyone gets a clear understanding of what the vision of BPL is, what the challenges are, what we can do to ensure that everyone in the entire Bahamas receives clean, economical sustainable energy. “That’s a lot to accomplish. We talk about 30 percent by 2030. Whatever the challenges may be we cannot afford to say it is too hard. This planet that we have is all we’ve got. We need to find a way to make it happen.” Mr. Rolle assured BPL employees that the board will work with them to ensure that the mandate is achieved. He said, “We are building on a foundation; our goal now is to see how we can continue to build on that and make it better and more sustainable.” (BIS Photos/Kristaan Ingraham)