The BVI Electricity Corporation’s Microgrid Project at Paraquita Bay is now one step closer to commencing after 19 companies submitted their Request for Quotation (RFQ) last Friday.
The companies were tasked with submitting information to the BVIEC to be evaluated for the purposes of qualifying them for a future tender for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Services.
The scope of the project includes Solar PV, Battery Storage, Power Management Systems, a Substation and will require undergrounding of electrical cables, with options for integration with existing fossil fuel generating assets in the BVI.
284News subsequently reached out to the Electricity Corporation’s General Manager Leroy Abraham who spoke on the evaluation process.
He said all 19 applications will be evaluated in accordance with the criteria specified in the RFQ which all entities must satisfy in order to be prequalified.
“The evaluation committee comprising of BVIEC and its industry partners will carefully and thoroughly review each application to see if it meets the requirements specified in the RFQ document; those that do will be qualified and naturally those that don’t will be disqualified. Remember this is a process to prequalify companies to bid on the project once the bid documents are completed; so only those companies which are qualified will be allowed to bid,” Abraham explained.
Huge interest speaks to BVI as regional leader in clean energy
The GM also said that the huge interest shown by the 19 submissions which also include prominent international companies, is evident that the BVI is amongst the top countries in the region when it comes to transitioning to renewable energy.
He said, “BVIEC’s projects are advertised in some of the most recognised periodicals in the renewable energy industry which results in international interest from some of the biggest names operating in this space. Clearly it positions the BVI as a regional leader with respect to its clean energy transition.”
Project to build resilience to the transmission network
Abraham also spoke to the significance of the project once completed, which he said will aid in strengthening the territory’s resilience in instances of natural disasters.
“This completion of this project will add much needed resilience to the transmission network in the event of another extreme weather events such as Hurricanes Irma & Maria, add renewable energy and battery energy storage so as to reduce the quantum of fossil fuel energy needing to be produced and aids in achieving the renewable energy targets set by the government,” Abraham explained.
$600,000 CDB Funding
Last January, the BVIEC announced that they had secured a technical assistance grant of $600,000 through the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) which was provided by the Canadian Support to the Energy Sector in the Caribbean (CSES-C) Fund.
The 19 companies included:
- JV Kelly Construction Atec
- Core Development Group
- Ctechi Group Ltd
- Valard
- Ozz Group Inc
- Sylvester Engineering Ltd
- Compass Solutions International Ltd
- Groupotec Renewables Ltd
- Kline Maintenance & Construction Ltd
- Gearing Up Limited
- Sma Solar Academy
- VONK
- Deltro Group Ltd
- Dhybrid Power Systems Gmbh
- China Machinery Engineering Corporation
- Your Eco Construction Ltd
- Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor A/S (BWSC)
- Autland Heavy Equipment & Salt Energy
- Sino Soar Hybrid (Beijing) Technology Co. Ltd