RENEWABLE ENERGY

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

St Helena Government, in partnership with Connect Saint Helena Ltd, has today released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to commission a renewable energy project for the Island. 

Expressions of Interest were issued in January 2017 and 48 submissions were received from an impressive range of potential providers. 

The intention of St Helena’s Energy Strategy, issued in 2016, is to become 100% self-sufficient for consumers connected to the national grid through renewable energy by 1 April 2022.

The objectives of the RFP is therefore to procure cost-effective renewable energy resources to help meet Energy Strategy requirements and to provide energy price reduction and stability to customers. Potential additional renewable energy sources recommended by the strategy include Solar, Wind, Anaerobic Digestion and Biofuel.

Assistant Chief Secretary, Paul McGinnety, said:

“The high cost of electricity on St Helena is well documented and is a negative factor in various aspects of Island life. St Helena’s natural resources, especially solar, makes the Island an ideal location to aim for a minimum of 85% renewable energy generation with storage.

“While we have made significant progress in the use of renewable energy – now averaging around 30% renewable contribution to the generation of electricity on the Island – St Helena is still over reliant on the use of fossil fuels and this contributes to some of the highest energy costs in the world which has a negative impact on the community.

“The 2016 Energy Strategy and subsequent RFP seeks to build further on the current solar and wind harvesting capacity and design, build, maintain and fund a solution based around solar and wind with adequate storage to meet the Island’s current and future needs.”

The Evaluation Team, made up of representatives of Connect Saint Helena Ltd and SHG, will evaluate and select proposals that provide both economic and non-economic benefits to Connect and its customers and adhere to performance standards necessary to protect Connect system reliability. It is expected that any projects that result from this RFP will help meet St Helena’s Energy Strategy goals.

CEO of Connect Saint Helena Ltd, Barry Hubbard, added:

“St Helena’s renewable energy journey started with three wind turbines on Deadwood Plain which proved to be terribly unreliable.  However over the last few years the initial reliability problems have been overcome and we currently have the fleet of 12 wind turbines operating efficiently and being supported solely by local staff, with the wind generation supplemented by the more recent solar installations. 

“The Island is ready to build on what we have.  The prospect of significantly reducing diesel fuel cost is exciting because it will remove the need for Connect to receive a subsidy from SHG and will then enable further savings to be passed on to the consumer.”

The RFP is available for viewing on the Publications page of the SHG website: https://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/publications/

Proposals must be submitted to the Procurement Team by 4pm (GMT) on Thursday, 27 July 2017.

#StHelena #RenewableEnergy #EnergyStrategy

https://www.facebook.com/StHelenaGovt/

https://twitter.com/StHelenaGovt

SHG

8 June 2017

 

 

 

 

 

St Helena Government Communications Hub

Telephone: 22470
Email: kimberley.peters@sainthelena.gov.sh