A partnership between a local energy company and a U.S based company has major implications for the energy sector.

Global Energy Solutions is partnering with international solar company Sybac in a move that is hailed as strategic and timely.

The Memorandum Of Understanding between the two companies would provide decades of industry experience, a direct-from-factory purchasing power and the ability to draw down on over $100 million to fund public private partnership initiatives to utility scale, according to Darius Johnson, CEO of Global Energy Solutions Limited.

“Unique to this partnership is a shift from the typical arrangements, where we see all the money leaving our country, top paying jobs occupied by non-Bahamians and very little being given back to society. That is not the case under our arrangements. My partners and I have a shared vision when it comes to training, employing and empowering Bahamians. We can be assured that Bahamians will not get the short end of the stick,” Johnson said.

A utility-scale solar facility is one which generates solar power and feeds it into the grid, supplying a utility with energy.

The proposal is to partner with the government to develop a new solar field which provides power to Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) at a wholesale rate, with savings to be passed on to consumers.

Works Minister Desmond Bannister said as an archipelago, the Bahamas must provide energy to numerous islands which are all diverse and in different stages of development.

“Critical to us are cost effective, progressive ideas as to applications in respect to renewable energy. We have the perfect environment to foster small scale renewable generation in our many family islands and we embrace this emerging technology to assist in the further development and modernization of the energy sector as we seek to improve conservation efficiency capabilities,” Bannister said.

John Bush, political and energy officer at the U. S Embassy said he has been in the Bahamas for two and a half years and finally feels that things are turning a corner of which he said he is excited about

“This partnership between Global Energy Solution and Sybac is a big step in the right direction. The Embassy is in communication with the Department of Energy Washington to identify resources for bilateral, multi-lateral assistance for the Bahamas. This could take the form of support for utility scale solar in the family islands. Not direct financing, but enabling financing, and we’re looking at Ragged Island right now,” Bush said.

He added that they are looking at providing technical assistance and training opportunities to assist with regulatory oversight and will continue to identify good services and partners for the private sector.

Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis last month announced that the Bahamas is poised for a solar energy transformation and added that the adoption of renewable energy was a “moral and an economic imperative.”