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Huge int’l interest shown BVIEC’s Anegada Hybrid Renewable Energy Project

Dress in blue, BVIEC General Manager Leroy Abraham interacts with potential bidders during a site visit for the power company’s Anegada Hybrid Renewable Energy Project.

The Anegada Hybrid Renewable Energy Project sparked interest in more than 135 companies from across the globe.

General Manager of the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) Leroy Abraham gave that indication during the project site visit on Wednesday, December 11. That visit welcomed approximately 30 of those interested companies.

Abraham said a request for proposal (RFP) document was issued in October for companies to participate in an exercise to install both solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and battery energy storage system on more than four acres of property.

“That exercise started two months ago. We had an overwhelming amount of interest in reference to the process to the request for proposal, we had over 135 companies who requested the RFP. Some big names like Tesla, SMA Solar Technology in the industry requested the RFP,” Abraham stated.

Mandatory to visit site to bid

He also revealed that interested companies needed to be present at the December 11 site visit for them to qualify to bid on the project.

“BVIEC always aims to de-risk a project as much as possible as risk on a project translates to increased costs. So the mandatory site visit ensured that all prospective bidders interested in submitting a bid were familiar with the site, and any unknowns associated with the project could be addressed such that, at the end of the day, their bids eliminate the inclusion of any unknown risks or factors,” the General Manager explained.

Two bid options

It was further disclosed that bidders will have to submit two separate bids, of which one will be selected based on the feasibility and benefits to the BVIEC.

“We requested two bids, one for EPC which is Engineer Procure and Construct. With that option, the bidder would just build the facility and the BVI Electricity Corporation would pay them outright the full cost for building the facility in which we would own. The other option will be PPA which is Power Purchase Agreement arrangement, where they will build and own the facility and we would just pay for the energy supplied to us.”

Expected completion date

The deadline for bid submission is February 7, 2020, and the BVIEC aims to award the contract by latest May 2020 to have the project finished by the end of that year.

Abraham said: “We will certainly appreciate if the project can be completed before the ending of 2020. If we are unable to achieve that timeline then most certainly, we don’t want it to go past the first quarter of 2021 for the system to be commissioned and providing power to the residents of Anegada.”

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5 Comments

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  1. trucker 1 says:

    I’ve noticed that he is putting everything else out on bid except for the trailer hauling to the BVIEC

  2. First of all says:

    Some big names like Tesla, SMA Solar Technology in the industry requested the RFP,” Abraham stated.” False Statement.

    These companies would not be interested in this type of bidding. Only dealers, authorized or non-authorized direct purchasers, like etec and other small solar companies for instance, will be interesting in this type of secret evaluation done by some unknown independent assesor(s) in which to obtain the RFP request.

    The process needed to be opened publicly for all interested solar companies to be able to obtain the RFP and bid on the project. Proposals can then be evaluated for best-fit options, and not the other way around.

    Why is it soo hard for people to tell the truth in our territory? And why is everything of significant importance and value to our territory’s progress always done soo secretively? Why?

    Like 14
    • Secretive? says:

      What about this process is “secretive?” The RFP documents were posted publicly for months on the BVIEC site for anyone to download. If the GM said 135 companies applied then I believe him,

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      Dislike 2
  3. Alister says:

    I would like to know how this would be profitable to any company considering the cost to build. Anegada only has a few hundred people to consume electricity. A project like this will cost millions of dollars to build and also operate. It will have to be heavily Government subsidize in order for a company to make a profit.

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