BNOC expanding its reach

Work continues apace as it relates to the rebranding of the Barbados National Oil Company (BNOC) to an energy company and as part of that effort, the state owned entity has established a renewable energy arm within the company, which will be seeking to install photovoltaic (PV) systems across the island.

Chairman of the BNOC, Alex McDonald spoke to this in an interview with the media recently on the sidelines of a Christmas luncheon hosted by the BNOCL, the National Petroleum Corporation (NPC) and the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources at Halton Great House.

“One of the signature moves of that renewable arm is to commit to putting 30 000 PVs on the homes of the average Bajan. So that is roughly about 3000 a year for the next 10 years. So that’s a massive task and one of the first things that we thought about is to have a pilot at the level of the staff,” he stated.

McDonald explained that the company will be launching a small pilot programme with about 300 persons, primarily staff of the entity, to test their acquisition processes and the metrics.

“So yes it is true that the BNOC staff would have the first lick at it, but it doesn’t mean it is going to be a long time before it rolls out. The Minister and the Prime Minister have been very clear that we must carve out a section of our plan for the most vulnerable in our community, people who would not normally have been able to afford it, so that they too would be able to have cheap renewable power,” he said

The Chairman explained, “How it works is that we put the PVs on and replace the electricity costs to the members of our staff, so that they are essentially fossil fuel free and that we send the message that although part of our business is and will continue be a fossil fuel business – our job is to sell it and help the government to use those results to push the renewable agenda on shore.”

Earlier, making remarks during the luncheon, McDonald said it has been an exciting year for the BNOC as they work to get that entity and the Barbados National Terminal Company Limited ready to meet the 2030 goal of being a carbon neutral country, as well as work on plans to join forces with the NPC.

“Many of you would have been privy to the brand thoughts that we had and we are waiting for Cabinet to give the final blessing on the branding, for us to be able to start to launch it,” he stated. (JRT)