Stellar Energy could be ready to deliver 75 megawatts of power to New Providence within two years and save consumers up to 28 percent on their electricity bills, if it can finalize a deal to take over the New Providence landfill, the company's chief operating officer said yesterday.
Speaking to Guardian Business at his offices, J.P. Michielsen said some complex issues held back Stellar's bid to begin creating energy through the refuge derived fuel (RDF) waste-to-energy process, but he insisted the company has the financial and technical capacity to immediately begin to utilize the country's trash to create renewable energy.
"If we had started when we wanted to start, it would have been up and running," said Michielsen,
"We have a dump, not a landfill. We would mine whatever is sitting there now. Some of it we put in the mix."
He insisted that the current, capped site would also be turned into a site for a solar farm that could create another 10 to 15 megawatts of power for the island.
These additions to New Providence's power grid could mean the end of blackouts for Bahamas Power and Light consumers, given the power needs of the island during the peak summer season.
However, Michielsen lamented the state of BPL's aging power grid, saying it will cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade New Providence's grid in order to efficiently deliver uninterrupted electricity.
"The infrastructure was never sized properly to handle the demand," he said.
"We're faced with a grid system that doesn't make sense, and it will take hundreds of millions of dollars to get it right. They put a Band-Aid on something that needs surgery."
Michielsen said that in the years after Stellar's failed bid to use the landfill as a waste-to-energy site, the company has grown and expanded, with offices in South Africa, China and London, and with further expansion expected in the near future.
In a recent press release Stellar said, "It is our intention, once approvals are granted, to mine that site and build a fully functional waste-to-energy plant. As part of our plan, the entire dumpsite would be remediated and sanitized, putting an end to obnoxious fumes from burning trash."
Michielsen said part of the company's plan for the landfill is to capture methane built up under the site and safely burn it off, which could alleviate fires at the dumpsite.
Guardian Business attempted to contact Minister of the Environment Kenred Dorsett for comments on this matter and other
environmental issues with no success up to press time. Last year Dorsett was appointed council chairman of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
The government has moved swiftly to liberalize the energy production sector. This month BPL will begin grid-tying homes with solar units so that they can benefit from net metering by essentially selling excess power back to the BPL.
Michielsen said while it was admirable that the government and BPL were taking this groundbreaking step, the average homeowner will likely not be able to afford systems large enough to fully benefit from net metering.
He said large-scale power generation, like Stellar's landfill project, will present the island with beneficial savings for consumers.
"It doesn't cost us anything to generate that power, which could translate to a 28 percent savings to the consumer," Michielsen said.

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