The Tribune

• Bannister: Release study on Station A’s suitability

• Vital ‘in interest of transparency and accountability’

• Blame game, finger-pointing intensifies on BPL woe

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An ex-deputy prime minister yesterday challenged the Government “in the interests of transparency and accountability” to disclose an engineer’s report justifying the choice of Station A for Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) baseload generation.

Desmond Bannister, who held ministerial responsibility for BPL under the Minnis administration, confirmed to Tribune Business that Bahamian engineer, Lambert Knowles, was hired to assess both Station A’s suitability as the home for the $95m Wartsila engines and to oversee the design/construction of the seven pedestals on which they currently sit.

Speaking after BPL’s generation management yesterday gave a media tour to highlight the Clifton Pier plant’s deficiencies, which they said will cost close to a further $3m to fix, he again accused the Davis administration of “a dismal failure” in not further upgrading Station A during the almost two years it has held office.

“When those engines were put in Station A, the Government of The Bahamas, which at the time was the FNM, had one of the most respected engineers in the country make a report on that,” Mr Bannister told this newspaper. “The current government would have that report on file, and they could release that report to the Bahamian people in the interests of being accountable to them. The report should be released by the Government in the interests of transparency.”

The former MP and Cabinet minister confirmed that the engineer in question was Mr Knowles as the finger-pointing and ‘blame game’ seemingly intensifies over which political party is responsible for the ongoing crisis at BPL and the wider energy industry. This is occurring just when Bahamian households and businesses are grappling with spiking BPL bills whose all-in rates have increased by 70 percent in just ten months to recover the utility’s unpaid fuel bills.

Other well-placed Tribune Business sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, yesterday confirmed that Mr Knowles was hired under the former Minnis administration to determine if the 40 year-old Station A’s structural integrity was sound enough to accommodate the Wartsila engines, which can collectively supply 132 Mega Watts (MW) of electricity, plus oversee the design/construction of the pedestals upon which they now sit.

“When that building was selected and they put those engines in, the steel structure that holds up the building was fine,” one contact said. “Lambert Knowles, a very well-known structural engineer, and probably the best in the country, was hired. He reviewed that building and determined it was fit for purpose. And when Lambert Knowles built and designed those pedestals, they were designed to carry twice the weight of those engines.”

This contrasts sharply with Station A’s current condition as presented by BPL’s generation executives yesterday (see other article Page 1B). A US engineering company, Matergenics Inc, has been hired to conduct a new structural assessment of Station A, with the utility’s staff pointing out that vibrations from the Wartsila engines were causing spalling or pieces of concrete to fall from the roof.

This newspaper was told that further upgrades to Station A, including replacement of the roof and its ceiling tiles, were required - and known to the Government and BPL’s then-Board and management - when the former Minnis administration was voted out of office in September 2021.

The $95m investment in the Wartsila engines was intended to solve arguably one of New Providence’s worst-ever power generation crises, initially sparked by the September 2018 fire that cost BPL its then-two most efficient engines and 60 MW of generation capacity. Frequent blackouts and power outages followed as a result of the load shedding that followed, with no part of Nassau and the wider island spared.

As a result, BPL and the Minnis administration focused on installing the seven engines as rapidly as possible, while making sure that they “fitted in the building appropriately”, the pedestals were correctly constructed and the control room built-out. Other issues, such as window replacement, were given less priority, with Station A ultimately supposed to be handed over to Shell North America as part of the deal to outsource New Providence’s baseload generation.

That deal will now seemingly not happen, with the Davis administration entertaining alternative offers for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel for BPL. The latter’s generation staff, though, yesterday identified issues with both the building’s ventilation and air compressors that are impacting the Wartsila engines’ output because the building is too hot.

Mr Bannister, however, sought to suggest that responsibility for these difficulties lies with the present administration rather than the one he was part of. Again accusing the Davis administration of failing to build on what its predecessor had left behind, he said: “No matter what they do out there, or take journalists out there, they still have not answered one of the several questions that I raised.

“That is to tell the Bahamian people, in the almost two years they have been in power, what they have done to improve any persistent challenges we have at Station A. The answer is going to be that they did nothing, and it’s a dismal failure. Suppose I am wrong, which I am not, and suppose Station A was not fully inspected by a top, highly-respected engineer.

“Suppose I am wrong, and the PLP government came into power and there were lapses in the structural integrity of the building. Surely in two years they would have done something to improve the structural integrity?” Mr Bannister asked.

“What they are doing with this ex-post analysis of the situation, two years after we left office, they are not telling the Bahamian people, from the time we lost the election, what the situation was then, and if the situation warrants, what they have done to improve the situation. Nothing. That is a very sad indictment.”

Mr Bannister questioned why all the deficiencies identified with Station A are only just being reviewed now after the Davis administration has had two years to address them, adding: “This shows you the worst type of neglect the country can have.” Calling on the Government to “get something done”, he added: “They’re showing the Bahamian people that since we left office nothing has been done.”

BPL generation executives yesterday said the walls of Station A’s basement were structurally damaged, and that it was full of sludge and oil and “not up to standard”. Its pumping systems were also described as inoperable. This description, though, sparked amazement from a well-placed source who said the basement has been “cleaned out completely” under the former Minnis administration with all oil residue removed.

“There was just concrete there,” they added. “A group from Freeport was brought in and they cleaned that out. It was cleaned up with the intent and desire to have that never to turn into oil sludge again. That is disappointing. That is illogical.”

Mr Bannister yesterday suggested that BPL’s decision to terminate the contract for Wartsila to manage Station A at end-2022 had resulted in maintenance issues, which presently have two of the seven engines offline, plus complaints of “wear and tear” with the engines’ crankcases and bolts snapping.