NASSAU, The Bahamas -- High-level Inter-American Bank (IDB) representatives took a tour of the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) for Bahamas Power and Light Company Ltd.’s (BPL) Blue Hills Power Station (BHPS), along with government officials of the Ministry of Finance's Project Execution Unit/Reconstruction with Resilience in the Energy Sector in The Bahamas, on Tuesday, December 13, 2022.

The IDB representatives included Tariq Alli, Country Department Caribbean Group and Country Representative in Jamaica; David Rosenblatt, Economics Principal Advisor for the Caribbean Region; Daniela Carrera-Marquis, IDB Country Representative/Bahamas; and Roberto Aiello, Energy Specialist, Caribbean Region.

The government officials accompanying them from the Ministry of Finance's Project Execution Unit were Marco Rolle, Programme Coordinator; Elise Delancy, Communications and Training Specialist; and Edward Darville, Government Sector Advisor.

The BESS facility will provide a spinning reserve and inject a new level of resilience and smartness into the existing Nassau grid.  The facility is a component of an overall initiative which is laid out in the IDB Loan Programme to advance deployment of renewable energy in The Bahamas.

The IDB Loan Programme comprises an $80 million loan supplemented with a $9 million grant provided by the European Union.

Mr. Darville explained that a 21-megawatt battery is being installed at the station, which will serve several functions.

It will stabilize the grid (solar power with different voltages and different frequencies will go to the battery and what goes out will be always a perfect voltage).  

It will help if BPL loses an engine.  It has enough power to help maintain whatever is on that grid to give BPL another chance to start up another engine.

It will also help to prevent spikes that damage equipment and appliances when the power comes back on.

After the BPL tour, the IDB representatives also visited the C.V. Bethel High School Rooftop Solar PV Systems, an initiative also completed with funding from the same IDB project.

Mr. Darville said there are about 284 kilowatts of solar panels at the high school.

He explained that the school uses whatever it can from the power that is generated from the panels and then if it needs more power, it gets it from BPL, leading to huge savings on its energy bills.

The tours were conducted by Burlington Strachan, Chief Technical Officer, BPL; Harcourt McCoy, Principal, C.V. Bethel and Philipp Feller, Solar Power Professional, Compass Solar.