Bahamas Power and Light's (BPL) brand new engines were not installed as originally planned in 2019, and therefore have not been providing the fuel savings the utility and government had hoped, BPL Chief Executive Officer Shevonn Cambridge said yesterday.

Cambridge was responding to media inquiries about the engines, that stemmed from comments made in the House of Assembly by Prime Minister Philip Davis, who contended the engines have never worked properly.

"I understand what he's talking about. I think what the PM was getting at was recently I had the opportunity to brief him, and basically, it was that the engines were designed to operate a certain way. But certain amendments and modifications were made during the project execution that resulted in them not performing as the project had originally envisioned," said Cambridge.

"And that has resulted in some eating or eroding of some of the fuel savings benefits that were envisioned with the project, as well as some of the operational performance issues."

Prime Minister Philip Davis charged in the House of Assembly on Wednesday that something is "rotten" at BPL, adding that the power company and the Bahamian people lost out in the company's deal for Wartsila engines.

Davis' statement came in response to former Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis' claim that the actions of the Davis administration are directly responsible for the higher power bills many consumers are experiencing.

Davis also explained in the House of Assembly that the new engines were billed to be tri-fuel engines that could burn heavy fuel oil, diesel or liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, Cambridge clarified yesterday that the engines are currently "dual-fuel", because the components needed for the engines to burn LNG have yet to be acquired.

"The engines were originally supposed to be tri-fuel engines, a standalone plant," said Cambridge.

"I think some events occurred during the planning phases of that, that required an immediate need for additional capacity, as well as the time constraints. And so there were some modifications made to the original design, and that has resulted in the production, or the ability of those units to produce as they are designed, being somewhat compromised."

The manufacturers of those engines, Wartsila, installed, managed and maintained the engines up until BPL ended their contract last year.

Cambridge has said on several occasions that the contract to keep Wartsila on was not cost effective for BPL.

The seven Wartsila engines were acquired with the hope that they would one day soon, burn the cleaner and more cost effective LNG, but the deal with Shell North America that would have seen LNG used as a fuel in The Bahamas, fell flat.

Cambridge said it will cost BPL $4 million per engine to make them ready to receive LNG.

"So, while they're not tri-fuel ready, they are tri-fuel capable, and that means they will require some work to convert them to being tri-fuel," he said.

"As designed they are dual-fuel. They are LFO (light fuel oil) and HFO (heavy fuel oil) engines, and to to get them to be tri-fuel will require an additional investment.

"I think we made some recent inquiries and that [cost] has gone up significantly as a result of all the things that are happening in the market with supply chain issues."

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