One of the Caribbean's leading power providers is looking to supply The Bahamas with "reciprocated engine technology", Guardian Business can reveal.
Rodney George, vice president of power plants at Wartsila Caribbean, confirmed that the company has been in discussions with the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) concerning the possibility of providing the country with another source of power generation.
Based on his research so far, he said this country's power supply is challenged due to the type of technology being used.
"We have had discussions with BEC and some private developers about the possibility of providing power to The Bahamas.
We know what The Bahamas' power generation landscape looks like. One issue is basically the type of generation technology that's being used," George said.
"In The Bahamas' case, slow-speed engines are used, which for the most part is fine, but in this environment with high ambient temperatures, it's probably not the most efficient way to produce power. So in that vein, we have proposed a reciprocated engine technology for power generation."
Wartsila is a multinational headquartered in Finland, manufacturing reciprocated engines that burn liquid fuel and gas.
George believes this technology will be much more competitive for The Bahamas than a slow-speed or gas turbine solutions.
"It's definitely a more cost-effective approach and certainly it's more competitive than the slow-speed solution and the gas turbine solution. We manufacture reciprocated engines that both burn liquid fuel like diesel or heavy fuel oil and also gas, so we manufacture dual fuel engines that can burn liquid fuel and that can transfer automatically if gas is available," according to George.
"On the power side, we are also turnkey constructors. If you give us a piece of ground, we will build a plant for you from scratch. Ninety percent of our power business is building turnkey power plants. Pricing depends on the size and where it is located."
George participated in the 13th Annual Caribbean Energy Conference held at Atlantis.
His comments to Guardian Business come as BEC Chairman Leslie Miller disclosed that there are four serious proposals for the procurement of natural gas for New Providence over the next 10 to 15 years. He insisted that the public corporation is "still on board" with replacing oil and gas as the country's fuel to generate electricity.
Miller noted that the market has changed and natural gas is now in great abundance in the U.S., making it "less expensive" than most energy sources. While the fuel has become cheaper in recent years, he admitted that it could still cost the government in excess of $200 million to make the conversion.

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