The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian poultry producer is awaiting receipt of the final $14,000 from the Small Business Development Centre’s (SBDC) $40,000 grant before it begins its solar energy transition.

Lance Pinder, Abaco Big Bird Poultry's operations manager, told Tribune Business he had received an initial $26,000 from the SBDC through the Ministry of Agriculture, but the outstanding balance is required for the solar contractor to begin installing the solar panels.

Abaco Big Bird won $40,000 through the SBDC's small climate grant for a solarisation project that was forecast to be completed this month. But delays in obtaining the full funding, in addition to hold-ups with specific parts needed from the manufacturer, have pushed the target date back.

Mr Pinder said: “I’m just waiting. I'm not up and running at this point. The power bills are going up all the time along with the fuel surcharges and things like that, and some of that funding was to help me offset that. That grant funding was supposed to get me back to where it was before these increases started, so I was really hoping to have the project completed already.”

The funding goes directly to the contractor installing the solar panels and not to Abaco Big Bird. Brenton Nixon, owner/operator of Smart Power Solutions, the contractor installing the solar panels, said: “We haven’t started the project as yet, but we have nearly all of the equipment and we are just waiting for the inverter.”

The inverter's arrival was delayed because the manufacturer was filling back orders from the COVID-19 lockdowns and Smart Power Solutions was down the list of customers. “We need a specific type of inverter to go with the 480 volt system that we have, but everything like the ground mounts and the wiring connections, I have. Everything else I have, except the inverter," Mr Nixon said.

“The inverter should be in by mid-May, but I am not sure when the Ministry of Agriculture is going to send me the balance of the funds. I just have no idea because when I spoke to Lance (Pinder), he said he doesn’t even know when they will send the rest of the money.

"The first payment from the SBDC that came in was about $26,000. We really need the balance to start the work. We have the ground mounts now. They were the most costly. I just really wanted to get them out of the way so I know that I have them.”