The Tribune

• Bannister to ‘fully defend’ Station A actions

• ‘Night and day’ differences since election

• ‘No credibility’ to many Wartsila allegations

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government was yesterday accused of a “disgraceful” failure to build on prior upgrades at Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) with an ex-deputy prime minister asserting he will “fully defend” what was done under his oversight. 

Desmond Bannister, who had ministerial responsibility for BPL under the former Minnis administration, told Tribune Business that the Clifton Pier power plant’s Station A - which houses the seven Wartsila engines that meet New Providence’s baseload energy demand - was “almost a new building after we finished” its overhaul.

Speaking after Alfred Sears KC, minister of works and utilities, said the results of a forensic investigation into Station A’s implementation will be eventually be made public, he argued that the real issue is whether the Davis administration has enacted any changes at BPL that have “made a difference to the Bahamian people” since it took office in September 2021.

Mr Bannister told this newspaper that comparing BPL’s present performance to what was achieved in the latter years of the Minnis administration is “like night and day”, adding that a “credible” forensic probe would show the prior government “managed BPL better than it ever had been before or since”.

And he asserted that there is “no credibility” to assertions by Prime Minister Philip Davis and others that the seven Wartsila engines, which can provide a combined 132 Mega Watts (MW) in generation capacity, have never all run together at the same time for fear they would compromise a “dilapidated” Station A’s structural defects.

Mr Bannister said the then-Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) Board, which had ultimate responsibility for regulating BPL and the energy sector, visited Station A to inspect the Wartsila engines shortly after their December 2019 installation and found all seven were “operating satisfactorily” together. Shevonn Cambridge, BPL’s current chief executive, was URCA’s head of energy regulation at that time.

While Mr Bannister was unable to confirm if Mr Cambridge was present for that inspection, he accused the BPL chief of “changing his story three times publicly” over the Wartsila engines’ purchase and implementation, adding that the Government has yet to respond to the Opposition’s challenge to produce the utility’s logs so that its operational performance under both governments can be compared.

Mr Cambridge described Station A as “already compromised” before the Wartsila engines were installed, as the 40-plus year-old building was already showing signs of “structural deterioration”. However, this was rejected by Mr Bannister, who told Tribune Business that the Minnis administration had left “almost a new building” for its successor.

“The FNM met that building in place,” he said. “There are photos the media would have of the conditions that building was in. If you tried to walk in there, you would have had oil and residue almost up to your knees. It was an entirely different place after the FNM put those engines in, cleaned the place up and did our best to improve that. That was almost a new building after we finished doing our work.”

Other contacts familiar with the Wartsila engines’ installation, but speaking on condition of anonymity, also contradicted Mr Cambridge’s description of Station A’s condition. They revealed that Lambert Knowles, the Bahamian engineer, was hired to assess the building and determined that it was “fit for purpose” with the steel structure that held it up sufficiently robust.

Concrete pedestals were then poured for each engine at a cost of around $1m-$2m. However, none sits directly on these pedestals, as Tribune Business understands that the seven lie on springs which are bolted to those pedestals. Asked about the Government’s forensic probe, Mr Bannister said it must be conducted by a reputable firm or individuals with the findings presented to the Bahamian people.

“I am fully prepared to defend what was done at that time,” he told this newspaper. “Whatever was done at that time, I am fully prepared to defend because I signed off on it. What I will say is that it’s clear that nothing was done to continue to improve that facility since 2021.

“That is a shame, that is disgraceful and it’s disappointing that the Bahamian people are now faced with outages when we went through the whole pandemic, with everybody home, everyone using air conditioning and we had virtually no outages. It’s a huge contrast to what we have now, and shows the difference in the approach we were taking.”

Mr Bannister’s comments are likely to further intensify the political battle that is currently raging over BPL’s dire condition. With Bahamian households and businesses presently enduring spiking energy bills to enable BPL to reclaim previously under-recovered fuel costs, after the Davis administration opted not to execute the trades to support the utility’s existing fuel trades, the Government has sought to shift attention to Station A’s execution.

The former deputy prime minister yesterday argued that shifting the blame for BPL’s woes to the former Minnis administration, over what the Government is seeking to portray as flawed decision-making surrounding Station A, is “part of what they are trying to do”.

However, he added: “I’ve heard too much innuendo about matters that cannot be supported. I’ve heard the chief executive [Mr Cambridge] change his story three times publicly and he’s not been taken up on it. Initially, he responded to an interview I gave, and in that interview he said the seven engines have not been operating at the same time.

“I issued as press release rebutting what he said, and asked him to produce the logs. The Government was asked to produce the logs in the House of Assembly. No logs have been produced to support what the Government was saying. The chief executive made a second statement which is easily rebuttable, when last week he came and said the engines cannot run at the same time because it would endanger the building.

“They have absolutely no credibility on this issue,” Mr Bannister continued. “Mr Cambridge was formerly the URCA executive with responsibility for BPL. The entire former URCA Board went there, inspected the engines and all were operating satisfactorily.”

BPL spent around $95m to acquire the Wartsila engines as a means to end New Providence’s then-load shedding crisis, which had been sparked by the loss of 60 Mega Watts (MW) in generation capacity due to the 2018 fire that destroyed the utility’s then-two most efficient engines.

However, Mr Davis told the House of Assembly that “the smell is rotten” surrounding the acquisition as he asserted that the Wartsila engines did not match their tri-fuel billing and had cost a cash-strapped BPL an extra $3m in maintenance costs.

Mr Cambridge was subsequently reported as suggesting the engines’ installation was rushed, adding that the decision to use Clifton Pier’s borehole cooling system for Station A - rather than a closed-loop radiator system - along with shared auxiliaries meant the Wartsila turbines failed to achieve optimum output.

Tribune Business, though, was told that a radiator system would face deterioration because of its exposure to salt air. As a result, several sources suggested that the borehole cooling system - which all other Clifton Pier engines use - was preferable. Some four boreholes were dug for the Wartsila engines, double what was required, although the harder limestone rock present at the site meant drilling them took longer than anticipated.

Mr Bannister said: “What is disappointing is that, for the last two years or year-and-a-half, there is nothing the Government can do to show what they’ve done to improve BPL. There’s nothing they’ve done to improve BPL’s infrastructure. Absolutely nothing. That’s what’s most disappointing. After we did all that work, and left it there for them, they did absolutely nothing.

“I doubt there will be any kind of audit of BPL. They’ve been talking about all kinds of things and have done nothing. If there’s one that’s credibly performed it will show the FNM managed BPL better than it had been before or since. The issue is what the Government has done at BPL since coming to office to make a difference for the Bahamian people. That question has not been answered.”