Businessman laments lengthy amount of time to connect PV systems to national power grid

One of Barbados’ main rum producers is making one of the single largest solar power investments in that industry but he is not satisfied with the inordinate amount of time it takes to be hooked up to the national grid.

Owner of the Foursquare Rum Distillery Sir David Seale disclosed on Thursday that he has invested about $10 million in solar photovoltaic systems on several of his buildings in an effort to slash costs, at the same time helping to propel the island’s energy goals.

So far, the warehouse and three of the ageing bonds at his Foursquare, St Philip operation and the People’s Market in St Michael have all been connected to the national grid and are already cutting electricity costs and bringing in earnings.

However, he disclosed, two roofs at his Hopefield home and four at the Foursquare operation that are outfitted with systems are still waiting to be connected to the grid.

The long-time rum producer is lamenting the slow pace at which the inspection and connection to the national grid was taking place, noting that he was frustrated at waiting for months for this to be done.

“The problem is the bureaucracy. Firstly, getting the licence, and secondly, the various inspections which I am not against. But all of them take months and, in fact, you are going years before you are actually hooked up to the grid,” Sir David complained.

“They need to employ more electrical inspectors. Same thing with the Light and Power [Company] – it needs to employ more people to look after what they do . . . . But the long and short is, that is the big hold up. Imagine you have a home and you put on this solar and you are longing for it and nobody is hooking it up. You gotta pay the supplier and the bank’s taking your money but you are getting nothing while waiting on permissions and so forth.

“This is the big problem of solar at the moment in Barbados. I would hope that [Government] would strengthen the Electrical Department and Light and Power too because the both of them have to work together,” he added.

The businessman disclosed that he was in the process of constructing two new ageing bonds to the tune of about $4.2 million, and would like to outfit them with solar systems right away, “but to take another year to start to earn, it really hurts you”.

Despite the delays in getting the six solar systems on the national grid, Sir David said he was seeing significant benefits from the five already connected, which are expected to bring in, collectively, about $1.2 million in earnings annually.

“In our case, we are ageing rum and the roof of the ageing bond is earning some funds to keep the cost of ageing down,” he said, noting that he was also not paying any electricity on the ageing bonds that have been connected to the grid.

“The biggest savings is at People’s Market because they have a lot of freezers and that sort of thing which uses a lot of electricity. So, you are subsidising. Down there, the earnings average about $18 000 and the bill nowadays… is around $60 000-plus, but you are getting $18 000 off of that,” he explained.

Indicating that he intended to outfit the roofs of all his properties with solar panels, Sir Daivd recommended that all homeowners make the effort to install solar systems, noting the potential savings and opportunity to earn an income from the excess energy they produce.

“It is very worthwhile,” he said.

Minister of Energy Kerrie Symmonds told a Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry forum and expo on Wednesday that he was concerned about the length of time it was taking to connect people to the national grid as well as the delays in having the impact assessment done for systems above 500 kilowatts.

“I make no excuse for saying that I think it is unacceptable that somebody goes through the process and waits for six, eight or nine months after the process after you have gotten your licence, you gone and do your financing and you are now able to expend effort and money to get the installation done and the bank is expecting you to pay back on a monthly basis – but for eight months after that sign-off at the bank, you are not able to get your connection done.

“It puts the potential investor in the most awkward position. I have had this discussion with the CEO [of the Barbados Light & Power Company] and I believe that he understands that better has to be done,” assured Symmonds.

(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)