Power52 awarded contract to develop renewable energy project on Anegada | No set start date

US-based solar energy company Power52 has been awarded the contract to complete the Anegada Hybrid Renewable Energy & Battery Energy Storage System project on the sister island.

Speaking at a media conference on Friday, Chairwoman of the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) Rosemarie Flax said Power52 was the successful bidder from among four other competitors.

Each party was made to submit two separate bids for the options to provide services to either engineer, procure, and construct (EPC) or have a power purchase agreement (PPA).

While the BVIEC has not yet decided which of the two options they will be advancing with, Chairwoman Flax said Power52 had the most appealing proposal in both categories.

She said: “Power52 EPC price for $4,687,944.72 was the lowest cost presented for the project at $1.59 watt, substantially lower than most of the other bidders. Additionally, their PPA rate of 22 cents was also much lower by 14 cents in comparison to the closest competitor.”

Criteria rated out of 100

Flax also detailed the criteria from which the bids submitted for the project were judged. She said the categories were all rated for a total of 100 points.

These categories included qualifications and experience, technical proposal, contractual cost, engineer procure and construct, power purchase agreement, and diesel offset.

“Following this grading scenario for the EPC scenario, Advance Solar Products received 72 points, MAN-HEG received 74 points, Power52 received 81 points, Tugliq Option 1 received 63 points, Tugliq Option 2 received 55 points, and Virtual Engineers received 48 points,” she stated.

“For the PPA scenario Advance Solar Products received 76 points, MAN-HEG received 53 points, Power52 received 81 points, Tugliq Option 1 received 78 points, Tugliq Option 2 received 73 points, and Virtual Engineers received 52 points,” she further detailed.

Cost not only factor in rating Power52

Meanwhile, General Manager of the BVIEC Leroy Abraham said the decision to choose Power52 was not only weighed by cost.

He said: “SMA, which is a major player in the space of renewable energy, has teamed with Power52 to develop the project and some proprietary work in terms of power management system, which was quite ingenious in terms of how they are going to coordinate both the battery, the solar and the diesels were quite innovative.”

“All of those parameters in addition to cost were able to bump them up higher than everyone else,” he added.

No date has been set for the commencement of the project due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Chairwoman Flax has said it is the BVIEC’s desire to have the project completed and commissioned prior to the 2021 Anegada Lobster Fest.