Wärtsilä hiring for new Clifton Pier station

Wärtsilä hiring for new Clifton Pier station
BPL CEO Whitney Heastie speaks to media at a press conference earlier this year.

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Wärtsilä, the operator of New Providence’s new power plant at Clifton Pier Station A, announced hiring postings for the new plant yesterday.

Bahamas Power and Light CEO Whitney Heastie said the move represents anticipation of the plant’s much-awaited opening in mid-December.

The Finnish company Wärtsilä will be operating the generation facilities, meeting BPL’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI) mandated in the agreement.

“BPL leadership has been fighting day in and day out to turn the corner away from load shedding forever. The completion of Station A is critical to ensure all of our customers have dependable and cheaper power,” said Heastie.

Wärtsilä announced openings for 27 Bahamian operators at Station A to make up the vast majority of the maximum 31 employees at the plant. The new job openings will be made available to BPL employees who are qualified and choose to apply to work at the station for Wärtsilä.

The upgrade of Station A will be complete in December. When Station A is fully integrated into the grid, officials expect customers will see a substantial improvement in the power generation reliability in New Providence, and a lower fuel charge on their monthly billing in the months to come.

The lower fuel charge will result from the use of more efficient generation as well as the ability to burn lower priced fuel. Additionally, BPL will now own sufficient generating assets to finally begin to close the chapter on rental generation in New Providence which began in 2011.

“The overhaul of Station A and our new partnership with Wärtsilä is a key step in our efforts to right the ship at BPL.  That’ll mean cleaner, more reliable and consistent power at lower costs over time for our customers, while turning the page on load-shedding on New Providence,” Heastie said.

“Bahamians will be proud to have this world-class generating facility – run and Bahamas Power and Light Company Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC).  BPL, the premier provider of electricity in The Bahamas, operating generation, transmission and distribution systems throughout the archipelagic nation.

“The company operates 30 generating plants in 25 island locations and has more than 100,000 customers maintained primarily by Bahamians – here on New Providence and meeting BPL’s rigorous KPI standards.”