Deputy Prime Minister Desmond Bannister.
By KHRISNA RUSSELL
Tribune Chief Reporter
krussell@tribunemedia.net
PUBLIC Works Minister Desmond Bannister has said the cause of Bahamas Power and Light’s recent challenges is a batch of contaminated fuel the power provider recently received, causing engine problems.
This is why BPL on Monday said there were issues with fuel logistics at the Blue Hills Power Plant.
BPL in a statement at the time said Sun Oil, the supplier, assured them that all the necessary steps were being taken to remedy the matter and work was underway jointly to stabilise power supply while corrective action was being taken.
BPL also raised the possibility of there being “short” disruptions in service as a result, adding that customers will be advised on social media, its website bplco.com, or local media if this is the case.
Yesterday, the minister said if any outages occur, it is anticipated that they’ll be short and in isolated areas.
“We are hoping that there are no challenges and outages, but I think that as a precaution BPL has to advise the public,” Mr Bannister said.
“What happens is this: BPL contracts the provision of fuel out to various companies. It’s some companies in The Bahamas that have had these contracts for many, many years and have provided fuel on a reliable basis over those years. So, that has happened for many many years, for decades.
“There is a batch of fuel that came in recently that BPL suspects was contaminated. It was not provided by BPL. It was provided by suppliers. When BPL used this fuel, it caused some challenges with their engines.
“They have gone through a whole bunch of parts — replacing of parts, replacing filters and other challenges — because of this fuel. So, they have to get this fuel out of their engines and be able to get more fuel in quickly and that has been the challenge that they have been facing so they are working now with the supplier to seek to get fuel that is not contaminated. Get it in the system and we are anticipating that things will work out okay.
“If there are outages, they’ll be short, they’ll be in isolated areas, but we don’t anticipate that there is going to be any widespread outages,” he added.
Asked if the supplier will reimburse BPL for its challenges, Mr Bannister said issues like this are always worked out appropriately.
“You have reputable Bahamian companies that have done it for years and BPL will work with them to ensure that whatever the challenges are financially they’ll be worked out. We are more concerned with being able to guide the public and advise the public of possible challenges.”
The company is in the process of analysing how much money it has had to spend in recent weeks to remedy the issue, he said.
He said there are “a lot of new engines in the country” and added that even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country faced no chronic outages over last summer.
“We had a wonderful summer. Everybody was home in the pandemic burning air-conditioning in their houses and we didn’t have the kind of challenges we’ve had in summers past.
“So, we are anticipating the same kind of summer. We just have to work through this challenge,” Mr Bannister said yesterday.
Comments
proudloudandfnm 2 years, 11 months ago
Damn. Every year a new excuse. When the reality is BEC is just not capable of providing reliable electricity. Every year a new excuse. Every year a new lie. Wow...
And not one person addressing the actual problem. How many more decades will this continue before somebody actually does something?????
stillwaters 2 years, 11 months ago
Well.....at least I learned something from all this.....what 'fuel logistics' actually is.....that had me stumped.
DDK 2 years, 11 months ago
ROFL Bannister🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
John 2 years, 11 months ago
Means it will be another dark, hot summer!
carltonr61 2 years, 11 months ago
The fuel got vaccinated.
Cobalt 2 years, 11 months ago
Excuses excuses excuses.
JohnQ 2 years, 11 months ago
In my opinion, if the utility (BPL) has a contract with a fuel supplier (Sun) certainly there is contractual language that specifies or should specify the level of fuel quality. As a public utility BPL should have the ability to ensure the fuel that is supplied meets the contractual specifications. Without any QC in place, the utility (BPL) is failing to protect itself against subpar fuel contents. Without this basic backstop the utility will struggle to ensure that the fuel supplier is meeting the contract terms. A fouled batch of fuel should have been identified and rejected before it enters the supply stream and damages equipment.
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 11 months ago
ahah. You answered my question. "Is there an industry standard procedure to prevent the contamination in the first place". like the standard that would have prevented the CEO from allegedly ordering an engineer to start up an engine without a safety team in place leading to a historic fire at the facility, the destruction of an entire engine, a 12 hour island wide blackout and months and months of painful load shedding.
Theres a requisite amount of BASIC knowledge for these roles. Lives and money are at risk. I guess they don't care as long as it's not theirs... to both
DiverBelow 2 years, 11 months ago
Each fuel has a standard/criteria, this is tested before it enters the vessel & before it is discharged into land tanks. Standard procedure worldwide (at a cost). Not certain if is procedure on interisland transfers, should be. Or was wrong fuel placed in wrong tank? Contaminating the service tank & damaging engine fuel system? Time to honestly consider Compressed Natural Gas (one source - one tank), cheaper & more reliable, less pollution. Not LNG, which requires much warming water & killing fish. If good enough for new Cruise Line ships & many worldwide utilities like FPL, why not Bahamas? I believe there is an offer before govt on same? Including conversions? Si.
proudloudandfnm 2 years, 11 months ago
I seriously doubt there's any issue with fuel. BPL simply cannot provide reliable electricity. Between and aging infrastructure and a complete lack of maintenance and any semblance of an actual work ethic Nassau will just have to learn to live without reliable electricity....
TalRussell 2 years, 11 months ago
Communism would have the best odds at a reversal of the red regime's governance, yes?
Emilio26 2 years, 11 months ago
TalRussel even communist countries like China and Russia have way better reliable power than the Bahamas.
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 11 months ago
"We had a wonderful summer. "
If I remember correctly we still had outages. The correct phrase would be it was much better than 2019 but theres work to do
Do they really believe their own spin? We had ZERO tourists last summer. DAguilar is now hyping up homeoprting and revving up hotel occupancy rates. when these hotels get real people again...
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 11 months ago
How common is this contamination risk? Or is the cost associated with rectifying it so great that even if it happens one time in 5 years the industry has a preload standard to protect against it? I just keep thinking this is why "young" is not enough
I don't know I'm just asking
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