Barbados initiates its first battery storage tender

Barbados has initiated its first procurement for battery energy storage systems in a bid to support the growing interest in renewable energy investment on the island.

Last week, the island government announced that the call for request for information (RFI) for new battery storage capacity and the publication of the competitive procurement term sheets would be launched on November 8.

The RFI precedes the launch of the competitive procurement process, which will seek 60 MW of battery energy storage systems.

Minister of Energy and Business, Senator Lisa Cummins, said the island is “a first mover in this space,” so a lot of ground-breaking and developmental work had to be carried out.

“This is an open tendering process. We expect that local and international bidders will come forward,” Cummins said. She underscored the importance of transparency in designing and conducting the procurement exercise and explained that the RFI will would allow for feedback on what still needs to be considered before the final documents are issued.

The consultation period for submission of comments and suggestions on the RFI will conclude on November 28, 2024. The tender is expected to take place in early 2025.

“We have made a commitment as a Government that we will be going for 150 MW between now and 2026, and so the subsequent tranches of procurement will account for both the distribution side and the transmission side,” Senator Cummins said.

Presently, the island has a 5 MW battery storage system installed on the grid at Trents, St. Lucy. Another 15 MW have already been approved by the Fair Trading Commission (FTC), through the Clean Energy Transition Rider. The Barbados Light and Power Company is the owner and operator of these projects.

“We’ve been very successful as an island with solar penetration. In fact, we are at the global forefront with 100 MW on the grid already, and in order to continue that momentum and continue building on past successes, the batteries are needed to unlock that and provide firm capacity,” said Roger Blackman, managing director of the Barbados Light and Power Company.

The Global Renewable Energy Mass Adoption Programme (RELP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating renewable energy deployment in developing countries, will oversee the RFI process.

Over the past months, Senator Cummins stated that RELP, with the full participation of the other team members, completed a full grid characterization study for Barbados. She pointed out that a new grid code had now been completed.

“The Grid Code was submitted in June of this year, and we now have [it] finalised and set to go before the Electricity Panel…of the Fair Trading Commission for finalisation. All of that is detailed work that has taken place over the last year,” she said.