No date for FTC ruling on Light & Power

It will take a while before the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) decides if it will give the Barbados Light & Power Company (BLPC) the green light to invest millions of dollars to fund its battery storage capacity under the company’s Clean Energy Transition Rider (CETR) programme.

The FTC’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Marsha Atherley-Ikechi explained on Friday that there was a process the state agency had to undertake before a decision was made.

She said she could not give a definitive timeline as to when a decision would be reached but said the FTC was aware of the importance of the application.

“What the utility has applied for is the coverage of storage under that particular programme; that application was received earlier this month. We are in the process of reviewing the application to look at whether everything that is required for the application has been provided. Once that is done, we will have to undertake the necessary process of assessment. It should be a much shorter process than a conventional application programme because the general tenants of the CETR have already been determined. Once that is done, there is a level of consultation that has to take place.

“We recognise the importance of the particular request and, therefore, the expectation is that we will seek to expedite as much as possible to give you a definitive time frame; I’m unable to give you that at this point,” she said.

During a media briefing on Wednesday, BLPC complained that the renewable energy connections to the national grid were fast approaching the 100-megawatt (MW) limit without storage capacity, with photovoltaic cells from homes and businesses reaching 89 MW at the end of last month.

Managing Director Roger Blackman said he was concerned about grid instability and reliability without battery storage.

However, while Atherley-Ikechi said the FTC was aware of the need for storage, she insisted the commission had to follow the process in accordance with the law.

“We recognise that storage is important within the context of having an increased penetration of intermittent renewables on the system. So we do recognise that, and we do recognise that there’s a need for storage.This application facilitates another level of storage to be operated by the utility. There’s already a 10 megawatt plant in place at Trent in St Lucy. This is providing additional storage to be able to balance the system, so to speak.

“So I want to give an indication more so as to the process that is involved. There is the receipt of the application, there is assessment as to whether the application is complete in the first stage, that is the stage that we are, we are at now, understanding fully well that much of the department was not available for a week of that process in time. Once that is done, we will go to the process of analysing what is put on the table in terms of the cost structure. Once that is done, we will go to the public for a public consultation, that is a requirement under the Legislation Utilities Regulation Act. We have to consult with all interested parties. Usually that process is on average six weeks. We will seek to condense that as much as possible, given the fact that the tenants of the CTER have already been established.

“Once that is done, we get that information from the public. We assess the feedback and then we make a final determination and in making that final determination, it has to be a staff paper being developed which goes to the electricity panel for consideration before a final determination is issued. So in that back and forth, it might be a situation where our staff papers presented recommendations are made. It might be that all the recommendations are taken on board and then it’s a quicker process, if it is not and there’s some amendments that need to be made, that might add to the time frame. And then once that is done, then a decision is issued. So that’s the process,” she said.

The CEO of the FTC said that it must be borne in mind that the commission was also undergoing a rate increase review and it was trying to deal with both matters at the same time.

“So recognising we are dealing with that and we are dealing with a number of other issues on the table at the same point. For right now, the absolute priority is the overall rate review that takes precedence above everything else. But at the same time, what we have determined that we will do, is to seek to move ahead with both things as much as possible. But we want to be able to deliver on the review determination . . . That is something that is on the front burner for us.

At this time, we expect to have a meeting on that with the panel on Monday. Following that we will begin to craft that determination,” (SZB)