Funds support Caribbean energy sector

According to the corporation in a release today, January 12, 2021, “CSES-C is a CAD5 million technical assistance fund established at CDB in 2016, with resources provided by the Government of Canada. These resources are used to support interventions in the energy sectors of CDB Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs) in the areas of capacity strengthening, project preparation, and strengthening of the regulatory framework.”

BVIEC General Manager, Mr Leroy A.E. Abraham confirmed to Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) that the US $600,000 will go towards providing technical assistance to the BVIEC through the CDB's Canadian Support to the Energy Sector in the Caribbean (CSES-C) fund.

The funding will be used to strengthen capacity at the BVIEC and support project preparation of climate-resilient energy infrastructure in the Paraquita Bay area. This is aimed at improving the resilience of the territory’s national transmission grid infrastructure.

“Some elements of the project include placing a portion of BVIEC’s transmission network underground and adding a renewable energy (RE) generation facility and battery energy storage systems (BESS) facilities. These RE and BESS facilities can be used to supply critical infrastructures such as the Seven Seas Water Plant, H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) and Bar Bay Water Plant,” the BVIEC noted.

BVIEC General Manager, Mr Leroy A.E. Abraham confirmed that the US $600K funding will go towards the providing technical assistance to the BVIEC through the CDB's Canadian Support to the Energy Sector in the Caribbean (CSES-C) fund.

Request for Proposals soon to be issued

Mr Abraham said it is expected that this technical assistance project will commence in earnest, by late January or early February 2021, based on CDB projections.

More technical assessments to be performed under the grant are the Paraquita Bay Critical Facility and Agricultural Area Solar Assessment and Design, grid integration analysis and facility interconnection single line diagrams preparation, geotechnical and hydrology study and foundation design preparations, just to name a few.

The BVIEC noted that upon conclusion of all the relevant project preparation work, a Request for Proposals (RFP) will be developed and issued, inclusive of commercial terms, conditions and technical specifications, to facilitate the project's development.