Shell will purchase plant from us, says BPL chairman

Shell will purchase plant from us, says BPL chairman
Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) Chairman Dr Donovan Moxey.

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Bahamas Power and Light’s (BPL) chairman Dr Donovan Moxey yesterday stressed there would be no ‘give away’ of the new plant as he defended the decision to cover the cost of constructing the 220 MW facility.

Moxey, who was addressing The Bahamas Business Outlook conference at the Baha Mar resort, cited the very complex nature and length of negotiations with Shell North America.

“We have a very complex negotiations with Shell that takes time so it’s better for us at BPL to cover those costs and shell will buy those power plants from us and we will create opportunities for Bahamians to invest. That’s the structure of the deal we are negotiating,” said Moxey.

Eyewitness News Online reportedly exclusively last month on BPL’s plan to cover the costs to construct the entire 220-plus megawatt power plant at the Clifton Pier site and transfer the assets to Shell North America for its gas-to-power facility.

The government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Shell North America for the development of a gas-to-power project in November 2018.

The project would include the development of a gas-fire 220-plus megawatt power plant, marine infrastructure to receive liquefied natural gas; a gas pipeline to bring gas to shore; and an onshore LNG regassification terminal.

However, BPL announced in March of last year that it signed a $95 million contract with Finnish technology group Wärtsilä to install a new 132-megawatt engine power plant at the Clifton Pier site.

The second phase of the plant, which will bring an additional 90 megawatts of capacity online for a total of 222 megawatts, is expected to be on stream by 2021.

]Moxey said there will be opportunity for local investment in TerminalCo, the LNG terminal facility operator, and PowerCo, the generation assets manager, with the latter likely to be via an IPO.

“From day one we agreed on Bahamian ownership,” said Moxey.

“Shell knows that they can come here and invest in a power plant but Bahamians will have ownership in that. They can invest in a terminal facility but Bahamians will have ownership in that. These represent great wealth building opportunities for Bahamians,” he added.