BP Trinidad and Tobago LLC (BPTT) has submitted a bid to the country’s Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI) for a commercial scale solar power project with partners, LightSource BP and Shell.
In a news update published on October 4, Trinidad and Tobago’s Energy Chamber said the project was disclosed by Claire Fitzpatrick, Regional President of BPTT speaking at the opening of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.
According to the Energy Chamber, in 2017, the MEEI released an expression of interest for utility scale renewable energy projects. The expressions that were received were evaluated and a shortlist of companies were invited to a request for proposal phase which closed at the end of June 2019.
The request for proposals called for the supply of up to 130mw of electricity generation from renewable sources on a build, own and operate basis.
According to the MEEI, a Tender-opening ceremony was held for the project in July, where it was revealed that 11 proposals had been received. The Ministry told EnergyNow that bids ranged in types of technology which would be implemented from solar to wind.
The Ministry has also indicated that there will be an evaluation process for the bids which entails four stages: determination of proposals’ responsiveness; determination of applicants’ ability to implement the project; technical evaluation; and economic evaluation.
The Energy Chamber said the evaluation process is anticipated to be completed by October 31, 2019 and will hopefully lead to the first large-scale renewable energy project in T&T in the near future.
In his first national budget submission, the Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, indicated that there will be 10% renewable energy in Trinidad and Tobago by 2021; 130mw roughly equates to 10% of the demand for electricity in Trinidad and Tobago.
Many industry players are excited by the two major gas companies teaming up to get behind low carbon technologies in T&T. The joint venture also represents a good start to the evaluation since these companies are experienced in executing large-scale projects in a wide array of sectors.
Together, BP and Shell produce about 70% of the natural gas in Trinidad and Tobago.
Earlier this year, BP and Shell also submitted joint bids on three shallow water blocks.
The Energy Chamber said this renewable energy bid will see the first participation from Lightsource BP in Trinidad. Lightsource BP is a global market leader in the development, acquisition and long-term management of large-scale solar projects and smart energy solutions. BP acquired a 43% stake in Lightsource in 2017 for a reported $200m. The company was subsequently renamed Lightsource BP.
