The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) newly-appointed chief executive has pledged to make the Government’s renewable energy focus a reality during his tenure at the state-owned energy monopoly.

Shevonn Cambridge, who in his previous post was responsible for regulating BPL at the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), said: “The renewable energy focus as laid out by the regulatory authority deals with trying to get a greater participation from residential consumers and small commercial ones.

“That programme was expanded to deal with larger commercial and government entities and, as you would have heard, the Prime Minister said on several occasions that the Government’s pushing for greater integration of renewables into the generation mix.

“So part of my role here at BPL is going to be to facilitate that, and that is also going to include some utility-generated projects of its own, so there’ll be some utility-scale generation projects put in place by BPL as well.”

Philip Davis QC, who was speaking at the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) chief executives and leadership conference over the weekend, said: “We are engaging in public-private partnerships (PPPs) and solidifying plans for a robust infrastructure investment plan.

“We have seen the devastating effects of hurricanes and other weather events. I lay a challenge to all countries to press towards enabling innovations that will achieve the collective goal of having at least 30 percent renewable energy sources by 2030.

“The devastating effects of climate change have caused us to draw attention to the fact that we are fighting for our lives. While we want to shore up our resilience to the effects of climate change, my government recently debated and passed an Act called the Climate Change and Carbon Market Initiatives Act.”

The Act provides a mechanism for realising financial benefits from the trade in carbon credits, ensuring this will be regulated.