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THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2023
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chief blasts Low energy: Bahamas worst FTX Bahamas over in Caribbean for renewables ‘closed legal system’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• IDB: Just 2% penetration for sustainable sources RENEWABLE energy providers yesterday voiced significant “doubts” that The Bahamas will meet its 2030 • Provider has major ‘doubts’ goals after this nation was found to have the lowest penetration in the 2030 goals will be hit Caribbean at just 2 percent. Guilden Gilbert, vice-president of • Says ‘sticking point’ is Alternative Power Sources (Bahamas), told Tribune Business that the consumer access to finance “availability of financing for the average consumer” is the main “sticking point” preventing a faster, wider rollout of solar photovoltaic (PV) and other systems that would enable this nation to meet the National Energy Policy target of 30 percent of energy from renewable sources within sixand-a-half years. The size of the chasm that The Bahamas has to bridge to hit that number is exposed in an InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) report on the next phase of a $170m project aiming to infuse renewables into the country’s energy mix during the post-Dorian infrastructure rebuild.
The document, which notes The Bahamas still remains close to 100 percent reliant on fossil fuels despite efforts to introduce renewable systems at locations such as government buildings and schools, said the next stage is “to strengthen the energy sector institutional and regulatory framework for the transition” to sustainable power sources. “Despite the potential for solar and wind power generation, and the steady cost decline of such technologies, The Bahamas ranks lowest in the region for renewable energy penetration [at] around 2 percent,” the
IDB report said. “Accelerating the transition to clean energy represents a unique opportunity for the country to enhance its energy security, meet its climate change action goals, and contribute to economic development and employment opportunities. “To address these objectives, the Bahamian National Energy Policy 2013-2033 set in 2014 the target of reaching approximately 30 percent of renewable energy in the mix by 2030. In 2015, the Electricity Act of 1956 was repealed to allow renewable
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Recipients of welfare may face gaming ban By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net GAMING regulators are mulling measures to ban persons receiving welfare benefits as part of a package of reforms that would also eliminate discrimination against Bahamians playing in hotel casinos if approved. Officials from the Gaming Board, speaking yesterday at the Caribbean Gaming Conference, said they are also studying the possible removal of restrictions that presently disqualify Cabinet ministers and their relatives from working in the sector or
holding a gaming licence provided the regulator is satisfied there is no conflict of interest. Ian Tynes, the Gaming Board’s secretary, confirmed that banning recipients of welfare and social security benefits from gaming is “a consideration” to protect vulnerable families and prevent irresponsible members from driving them further into poverty. He revealed that the regulator already has software that can block persons receiving welfare benefits from gaming. “There is a component of [the tool] which has all compliance checks, everything. It is so sophisticated
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Insurer doing ‘everything to remedy’ Cayman breaches By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS First’s top executive yesterday pledged it is doing “everything possible to remedy” its Cayman Islands’ subsidiary’s non-compliance with that territory’s health insurance regulations due to a claims processing “backlog”. Patrick Ward, the BISXlisted insurer’s president and chief executive, told Tribune Business that its Cayman First subsidiary has already submitted a plan to address the shortcomings to the territory’s regulator and is confident
PATRICK WARD they will be resolved “for sure” in 2023. He added that there was “no reason” for Bahamas First to believe that its Cayman subsidiary faces
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• Claims can’t ‘protect our rights’ here By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FTX’s US chief yesterday blasted The Bahamas’ “closed legal system” and argued his team will “find it difficult to protect our rights” due to challenges in gaining approval for their chosen UK KC to act before this nation’s courts. John Ray, who oversees 134 FTX entities currently in Chapter 11 protection in Delaware, asserted that “meaningful participation” in Bahamas-based litigation involving the collapsed crypto currency exchange “may not even be possible” as the Bahamas Bar Council was presently “not minded” to permit David William Allison KC to act as lead counsel in representing his team’s interests. The move to sully the Bahamian legal system
JOHN RAY came as the battle for jurisdictional control of FTX’s liquidation, which has been raging ever since its early November collapse apart from a temporary two-month truce, heats up yet again as Mr Ray and his team move to prevent the local joint provisional liquidators gaining any relief from the worldwide Chapter 11 freeze imposed
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