The Tribune

BY FAY SIMMONS

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

NEW Providence’s energy grid operator yesterday said it is bringing in a team of international cable repair specialists to tackle a series of legacy underground faults as it steps up efforts to stabilise and strengthen transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure.

Bahamas Grid Company, in a statement, said it is leveraging its professional network and global partnerships to accelerate system upgrades and improve grid performance following multiple island-wide and localised summer outages.

It added that the immediate work will focus on repairing legacy underground cable faults across the network, and warned that motorists may experience temporary traffic disruptions in some areas as excavation and repair activities get underway. Bahamas Grid Company pledged efforts will be made to minimise inconvenience and complete improvements as safely and efficiently as possible.

The company acknowledged the challenges business and household customers have faced in recent months, and said the latest repair programme forms part of its continued efforts to build a more reliable and resilient electricity grid.

“The work continues,” Bahamas Grid Company said. The latest intervention comes as it continues a wider grid modernisation programme that has already seen more than the $130m initially earmarked for upgrades invested in the network.

Dareo McKenzie, Bahamas Grid Company’s chief executive, said last month that it has completed the major foundational upgrades under the programme and invested more than the original $130m figure.

“We've completed that and more,” Mr McKenzie said, while declining to provide an exact investment figure because the company was in the process of financing additional work.

He said the focus is now turning to legacy infrastructure that remains a weak point in the system, particularly underground cables and equipment at the interface between generation, transmission and distribution.

Mr McKenzie said The Bahamas' environment creates particular challenges for electrical infrastructure, with high salinity, humidity and a high-water table all contributing to the deterioration of equipment.

Underground cable repairs can be especially difficult, he said, because crews can encounter water just a foot or two below the surface. As excavation begins, water can quickly refill the area, requiring crews to continuously pump it out while carrying out the repair work.

The complexity of the existing network also presents a challenge. Mr McKenzie said the New Providence system evolved from a number of independent systems that were subsequently connected, leaving a diverse network operating across 132 kV (kilovolts), 33 kV, 11 kV and 7.2 kV.

As part of the modernisation effort, Bahamas Grid Company is working to simplify the grid and move towards Florida Power & Light-based specifications, which Mr McKenzie said are better suited to The Bahamas' hurricane-prone and marine environment.

He said standardising the system should also improve operations and make procurement more efficient, particularly because the existing British-based system requires equipment to be sourced overseas with long lead times.

Mr McKenzie said the network's biggest challenge is not necessarily a lack of generation capacity, but the ageing infrastructure used to move electricity from generation through transmission and into distribution.

“We don't have a generation problem per se,” he said, noting that The Bahamas has significant generation capacity and capability. The weakness, he said, is at the transition points where legacy equipment remains.

That infrastructure will also become increasingly important as renewable energy is integrated into the grid, including larger solar projects planned for New Providence.