BL&P’s modern plant paving the way

by Marlon Madden

Renewable energy and environmentally friendly are perhaps not the first words that come to mind when one thinks about a power generation plant in Barbados or any other part of the world for that matter.

However, the island’s sole electric utility company, the Barbados Light and Power Company Ltd.
(BL&PC), is aligning its operations to assist the country in achieving its ambitious goal of relying on 100 per cent renewable forms of energy by 2030.

While the BL&P will continue to convert some energy from heavy fuel to electricity at that time, it will be mainly for back-up to ensure grid reliability and not the main source for electricity on the island.

To achieve this transformation to cleaner sources of energy, the utility company has constructed an environmentally friendly, resilient and modern state-ofthe-art generation facility.

Set on a portion of 72 acres of land at the company’s generation site in Trents, St Lucy, is the brand new 33 megawatt (MW) Clean Energy Bridge (CEB) power generating facility, which forms a main plank in the company’s transition from being a fullyfledged fossil fuel burning plant to a company that offers electricity from renewable means.

Construction of the $130 million electricity generation plant started in early 2020, following site preparation in 2018. It is scheduled to go into full operation by the end of next month, and is expected to contribute about 27 per cent of the island’s annual energy needs.

Today’s BUSINESS recently had the opportunity to tour the CEB facility, which sits adjacent to the company’s sprawling 10MW solar photovoltaic farm that was commissioned in 2016.
Project Manager for the CEB Dave Skeete explained that the new plant is a major upgrade for the company.

The electricity production starts by pumping the heavy fuel that is stored in huge tanks into the fuel treatment house where impurities are removed by special centrifuges called separators.

The fuel is then transferred to the engine rooms where it is burned in the plant’s medium speed diesel engines, and the energy from the fuel is converted into electrical energy by generators.
Electrical energy passes through medium voltage electrical rooms from where the voltage is subsequently increased via transformers and sent on to a nearby substation.

This electricity is then sent onto the national grid by underground cables before being transmitted to households and businesses at the required voltage.

Some of the electricity produced is also stored at the modern facility.
With the CEB, some units at the aging Spring Garden Power Plant facility will be retired. The new facility will also provide an extensive backup capability for when the renewable sources have lower power output.

“It is a bridging solution between the existing fossil fuel power generation and renewables. It is a more efficient plant. Once it goes into production the cost of electricity should be reduced,” said Skeete.

In addition to having a major focus on health and safety and minimising noise and waste pollution, the modern facility is built with natural disasters in mind – earthquake resistance measures and the ability to withstand wind speeds of up to 160 miles per hour, which is the lower end of a category five hurricane.

“It is important that the plant have a certain level of resilience so that when these events arise it does not just shut down or sustain major damage,” said Skeete. While the new plant is expected to result in a more reliable service, Skeete made it clear that not all outages originate at the generation plants, as some are as a result of fallen trees, accidents or lightning events.

The plant has a modular design consisting of several transformers, an electrical room, a control room, four generators, a fuel treatment house, a fuel storage area, workshops and an administration building.

The unique facility also consists of a 21MWh battery energy storage system, commissioned in 2018. “You always need a back-up because the output of renewable can be intermittent.

On rainy days or when outside is overcast the output from solar panels is reduced. On those occasions this plant will compensate to keep the electricity supply steady,” said Skeete, as he pointed to the importance of the CEB facility as well as having storage capability.

With safety being a priority at the facility, it is dotted with automatic fire protection systems and fire hydrants. Several pieces of equipment also had to be certified before being pressed into use.

In addition to limiting noise to a certain level around the plant, the facility is designed with emission controls to conform to international standards.

“These are some of the environmental considerations. As with noise, this plant is designed to ensure that the limits for individual contaminants are met in stack emissions. This has to be verified during commissioning to ensure it complies with what is set out in the planning permissions,” Skeete explained.

He noted that the company would also be measuring air quality in the areas upstream and downstream of the site, and that an air quality monitoring programme will be put in place.

As a result of the new facility, the company has had to hire close to 30 new people including highly skilled workers in several specialised areas. Several staff members have had to undergo training, which will be continuous.

As part of its thrust to help build out the island’s renewable energy sector, the BL&P is also looking at the possibility of building a major wind farm in Lamberts, also in the parish of St Lucy.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb