Minister of Energy and Business, Senator Lisa Cummins, at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Third Green and Renewable Energy Expo, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. on Tuesday. (C. Pitt/BGIS)
Minister of Energy and Business, Senator Lisa Cummins, outlined some of the work being done and highlighted completed tasks on Tuesday, as she delivered the keynote address at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Third Green and Renewable Energy Expo, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Senator Cummins stressed, however, that multi-stakeholder engagement with local and international partners has been key to Government arriving at this stage.
She noted that the Electricity Supply Act, which was passed last year, was about to be proclaimed. Included in this Act, she added, are new regulations on competitive procurement, both generation and storage, among other things.
“The Ministry, together with the teams that I mentioned in my stakeholder engagement, … have mapped out an extensive process for procurement. We have determined that the 150 megawatts of battery energy storage systems that we need to go to the market for will be prioritised and we will do it in tranches over time….
“We now are preparing to come to the market with a full invitation for requests for proposals for the first tranche of battery energy storage systems,” she said.
The Minister explained that it was not feasible to procure 100 per cent of the needed battery energy storage systems (BESS) now, as it would have an impact on the cost of electricity, and other factors.
“We are at this time matching your construction of solar projects, which we estimate per project based on size between six to nine months, with the procurement of battery energy storage systems. So, in tranches, you will see us go to the market, in overlapping incarnations, … to procure battery energy storage systems. So that is the procurement, up to 150 megawatts, through the end of 2025, which is underway,” she stressed.
She said the Fair Trading Commission has undertaken a review of the Energy Storage Tariff (EST) of June 2023, and developed a new guidance note. She indicated that under the EST and BESS process, no single investor could receive 100 per cent of the investment.
Senator Cummins noted that a significant body of work, which had not existed before, had been completed as part of the battery energy storage system process. She emphasised that the “play book” was being written from scratch.
“Over the last year, with the support of RELP, we have completed a grid characterisation study. It didn’t exist before. So, we now can tell you, coming out of that grid characterisation study, what the entire grid from St Lucy to Christ Church and St. Philip and everything in between looks like.
“We can tell you what’s happening on the distribution and on the transmission networks. We can tell you where solar projects are clustered. We can tell you what the feeder systems look like, and we can tell you where, particularly on the transmission side, we need to locate battery energy storage systems. The entire grid has now been mapped, and that work has been completed by the multi-stakeholder team,” she beamed.
She shared that a Liquidity Support Facility had been created, so that in the event the utility experienced a force majeure event and was unable to pay the independent power producers, then they could access those monies, for a period of three months. Once the utility was then able to pay, however, it would top up the facility, so it would be a revolving facility, never to be depleted. The facility is expected to be launched in the future.
During her wide-ranging address, Senator Cummins also disclosed that the onshore wind project at Lamberts, St. Lucy, was about to be launched. “We have spent the last year…slaving away on Lamberts, and what started as potentially a 30 megawatt onshore wind project is now potentially being scaled up to between 50 megawatts and potentially even 60 megawatts of onshore wind,” she explained.
She said the work was being done in collaboration with the International Financial Corporation of the World Bank. She added that another wind mast has been set up in the St. George Valley and it is expected that a second onshore wind project will be launched.
Additionally, she noted that an innovative mechanism has been designed for Lamberts to empower Barbadians, businesses and investors.
“We have incorporated a unit trust model within these investments, which will allow for shares…to be allocated to average Barbadians who want to come together and to invest in large scale projects, but don’t have…large sums of capital. It is an empowerment mechanism, and we are very proud to be able to launch this as part of the Lamberts project…,” she told the gathering.
In outlining some of her Ministry’s plans, the Minister said a consultant would be hired to complete the future of work in energy skills document; officials were currently developing a dispatch policy as required under the Electricity Supply Act; and a new portal for energy and storage licences was now being developed.
She also noted that the international community will assemble in Barbados in March, for the Sustainable Energy for All Global Forum, being hosted by Government and Sustainable Energy for All.
(sharon.austingill-moore@barbados.gov.bb – GIS)