NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) chief executive Shevonn Cambridge said yesterday that while the company is making significant progress towards restoring electricity to consumers in North Andros by shifting generation assets from other locations, re-establishing a fully operational power plant in the Nicholl’s Town would likely be a 12-18 month exercise.
Cambridge noted that it was fortunate that Nassau was in close proximity to Andros, allowing BPL to quickly assess and address the catastrophic loss of generation assets as a result of a fire early Wednesday morning. To address the situation, the company yesterday afternoon mobilized two units—one generating 1 MW and the other 500 kW—to the Nichols Town power station. The company noted that while the two units will be insufficient to meet the total demand in North Andros, an additional 1.5 MW generator from the company’s family island operations should arrive on the island today.
Cambridge said the company is doing all it can to have the supply rested by mid-day today. He also confirmed that the power plant was fully insured.
“We did some initial checks and the units are early 2000’s which is relatively young. The typical lifespan of a generator is 25-30 years,” said Cambridge. He also noted that BPL has been adhering to manufacturer-recommended maintenance schedules.
“We have shifted assets from some of our other plants of similar size to be able to pull off what we are doing in the short term. The intent is to replace those assets from where we are shifting them from. For the next week or two, one or two of the islands we will be removing assets from will be running tight, “ Cambridge said, though he would not reveal which islands the generators were being removed from.
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