The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Bahamas Power and Light chief executive Whitney Heastie has rejected the utility’s claim that extreme heat and ageing equipment caused the latest power outages, arguing that parts of the electricity system are instead being pushed beyond their design limits.

Mr Heastie said repeated cable faults, fires and equipment failures point to excessive strain on the system rather than temperatures that industrial-grade equipment should be capable of withstanding.

His comments followed five days of prolonged outages across western New Providence and an island-wide blackout earlier last week. Residents in parts of New Providence and the Family Islands had already been experiencing recurring disruptions.

BPL officials have attributed the latest outages to faulty cables, increased electricity demand, summer heat and operational faults.

Mr Heastie, who led the utility before resigning in 2022, said the failures appeared to have a simpler explanation.

“They’ve had faulted cables. They’ve had fires. They’ve had everything underneath the sun that’s been going on and to me it boils down to one simple thing,” he said. “Either you’re putting the equipment under situations that the equipment is not designed for, and that’s really what I believe is the issue that’s going on, because as with anything, if you stress something more than it’s designed for, it will fail.”

Mr Heastie said cables and other equipment can fail when increased electricity loads expose them to more current than they were designed to carry.

“So, when I hear of cable failing, well to me, the cable failed because you have stressed the cable beyond its design capacity or its rated capacity,” he said. “To me, you should never let a piece of equipment get above and beyond its capability.”

He agreed that electricity generation should not be the principal problem, saying BPL has added significant generating capacity in recent years and that those units are nowhere near the end of their expected lifespans.

“I don’t believe ageing equipment can be referred to when it comes to generation,” he said.

Mr Heastie also disputed BPL’s reliance on elevated temperatures as an explanation for the failures, saying the utility uses industrial-grade equipment designed to operate under harsh environmental conditions.

He acknowledged that temperatures in The Bahamas have been unusually high but said they remain below those recorded in many other countries.

“If we are going to claim the equipment that we have is failing due to extreme temperatures, then I would think as well that those areas that are seeing 105 degrees, which The Bahamas is not seeing, should have similar situations, which they are not,” he said.

Mr Heastie also questioned whether Bahamas Grid Company, which is responsible for New Providence’s transmission and distribution network, has properly assessed the condition of the infrastructure it now oversees.

About $130m in foundational grid upgrades, assisted by US electrical utility provider Pike, were expected to be completed by the end of June. However, it is understood that the transfer of the grid assets has not yet been completed.

Pike Electrical has since left The Bahamas after completing the upgrades, The Tribune understands.

Mr Heastie said Pike had the expertise needed to configure protection systems and prevent circuits from becoming overloaded, but questioned who now performs that role locally.

He said: “If Pike is no longer there — because Pike does know what they’re doing, make no mistake here, they know what they’re doing, okay — but if you take Pike out of the equation, who now is the local expert to be able to set protection, know what protection device to set, how to go ahead and configure full so that you don’t overload the circuits?

“Who is the engineering arm of The Bahamas Grid that is now taking care of all of that? BPL is now out of the equation, if I understand the split correctly.”

Davis administration officials have said the departures of Island Grid Solutions and Pike will not affect continued investment in and upgrades to New Providence’s transmission and distribution network under Bahamas Grid Company.