Questions raised over renewable energy bid

QUESTIONS are being raised about the alleged selection of a BPTT/ Shell consortium as the preferred bidder for a utility scale renewable energy project.

The alleged selection was reported in the Business Guardian on Thursday. The report claimed the three companies made a joint bid and edged out other companies which submitted proposals for the project.

The report also claimed that Finance Minister Colm Imbert will announce this when he presents the 2019-2020 budget in the House of Representatives on Monday.

There were 11 bids for the project.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official from one of the companies which bid for the project questioned the authenticity of this report.

The official said, "We want to know what's going on," and asked, "Is BPTT the only company to be awarded a contract? If so, why? What is wrong with the other bids?"

The official recalled the project started off as an expression of interest last June and became a request for proposals (RFP) in December of the same year. The official said the RFP indicated that all bidders would be told by the Energy Ministry which of them had been successful, but this has not happened.

BPTT and Shell, he said, submitted two proposals, but only one was accepted.

He said a highlight of the RFP was that there could be more than one highest-ranked applicant. According to documents sent to Newsday, the highest-ranked applicants are defined as those whose proposals are "substantially responsive, who have successfully met the requirements of Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3, and whose economic evaluation best meets the overall power

sector objective of reliability and security of supply at least cost to the grid."

The documents said, "Applicants selected for this status will therefore be those whose individual or

particular combination of proposals offer the best improvement in tariff to the electricity consumers."

The official said his company's proposal satisfied the International Renewable Energy Agency's guidelines for the project.

The Energy Ministry and BPTT could not be reached for comment.