Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) Director of Energy Supply Anthony Christie said yesterday that when BPL took over management of seven Wartsila engines at the end of 2022, it found major defects with the units as well as delayed engine maintenance.

Wartsila previously managed the engines at BPL's Station A at the Clifton Pier Power Station.

BPL ended its contract with Wartsila at the end of last year. Under that contract, Wartsila, which is the manufacturer of the engines, was to maintain and operate the engines.

"As part of the contract, it speaks to the plant being handed over back to us in the same state in which it was given," Christie told reporters following a tour of Station A.

"We did not encounter that. Since then, we've been focusing on correcting all of these issues in order to get it in a better state.

"Initially, housekeeping was not up to standard. The basement that you all toured, the floor was pretty much full of oil or water in a large amount of areas. Proper pumping systems were not working down there and that was the first area we focused on to clean up in order to make it safe for our staff to go down there...

"Then, we looked at what systems are not working in the plant. Again, we would have had a running plant. We would have had scheduled maintenance. At that time, one unit was planned for service.

"Again, based upon demand, the prior year, in these units, you have a 12,000-hour service and then a 24,000 and then a 36,000, etc.

"Due to the demand at the time, a lot of the scheduled maintenance was delayed and that impacted us completing a lot of maintenance on time.

"Now, at the time, the OEM (original equipment manufacturer – Wartsila) was still in charge of that. In addition, the scheduled maintenance that was done on, I think, five of the seven units had a lot of delays and challenges, due to logistics, parts being available on time [and] technicians being available on time. All of this added to the delays.

"So, up until the time we took over, they should have completed all of the services or overhauls. But at the time, they did not.

"So, we were left now responsible for two more overhauls that needed to be done prior to summer.

"I think a challenge with that is when we started to plan and schedule that overhaul, then we encountered some major defects related to design of the units themselves. We would have found bolts that snap or break, we've had more wear and tear on certain components in the crankcase, etc., that needed proper analysis in order to understand the root cause.

"So, it was not a straightforward overhaul as we had planned or envisioned, and that's why it would have taken us longer time to complete those and we're still in the process of doing that."

Prime Minister Philip Davis told Parliament recently that the Wartsila engines purchased under the Minnis administration were "constructed in a dilapidated building".

"Therefore, they can't run for fear that the building will collapse on it," he said.

When asked to explain Davis' comments, BPL CEO Shevonn Cambridge said that it is "too risky" to run all seven of the Wartsila engines at once, due to the structural integrity of the Clifton Pier building where the engines are housed.

Tour

BPL invited the media to tour Station A, including the room housing the seven Wartsila engines, the control room, where the engines can be observed behind a glass, and the basement which once housed auxiliary equipment, but now most notably collects sludge from the engines.

Officials pointed out corroding infrastructure which they said is caused by several factors, including vibrations from the engines, salty sea air, due to the proximity to the coast, and high temperatures.

"As I mentioned before, you have the vibration, you have corrosion, you have temperatures; all of that impacts what is happening to the structure itself," Christie said.

"This building is aged; it's very much 40 years-plus in age. It also had a lot of impact."

Inside Station A, the engines roar ferociously in unison. Ear plugs are mandatory and even then the sound of the engines is deafening.

Another issue, according to Christie, is the ventilation in the building.

He said Wartsila made an ad hoc design for compressors used to provide air supply, but officials have to fix what was built.

"Before walking near the engine base and near the doors, it was extremely hot and that impacts the generation or output from the unit," he said.

"So, in short order, we're going to install a series of exhaust fans up on the upper windows along the wall that would help with the ventilation in the building.

"Another large component outside of fuel was the air supply, which is provided by compressors, which are part of the engine operations. By design, they put those in the building and they found out that they were too hot to operate properly in the building, so they had to put them on the outside of the building. Well, they did an ad hoc design for that, so, right now, we're trying to correct that to make our supply proper air in a proper area."

BPL continues to cope with higher than average summer demand. That demand puts pressure on BPL to provide power to all customers, although officials say the company's total generation capacity is able to meet New Providence's demand for power.

Last month, the prime minister said something is "rotten" at BPL and indicated that BPL and the Bahamian people lost out in the company's deal for Wartsila engines, which he said have never worked properly.

Yesterday, Christie described the engines as "good".

"If someone asked me what would we have done, I think we would have wanted to have seven units installed in the new building, a new boiler, new separators, a noose, incinerator system, etc.," he said.

"So, a lot of things that should have been done at inception, which may have cost a little more money or extended the time in which they would have been online, that would have helped us and put us in a better position, to date. So, you know, in engineering, design is the key time at the beginning when you spend the most time, so that at the end, you don't have to spend time correcting things that should have been put on the table or corrected at the beginning."

While officials are focusing on improving the ventilation, structural repairs are a priority. Despite the challenges, Christie said BPL is still relying on Wartsila's help.

"We still have a strong relationship with Wartsila," Christie said.

"They are supporting us and moving forward. They are still a part of the whole running at this plant because they are the OEM. So, we're going to use them along with other vendors in order to correct these issues and just move forward."

For its part, Wartsila has not yet responded to a request for comment on concerns and allegations raised in relation to Station A.

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