Residents and businesses across Eleuthera have endured a string of crippling power disruptions between October 5 and 12, and Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) has finally pinpointed the root causes of the outages while issuing a formal apology and laying out a long-term roadmap to stabilize the island’s power grid by 2027.
In an official statement released this week, BPL confirmed that a series of overlapping mechanical and electrical failures at the island’s Hatchet Bay Power Station triggered the widespread blackouts. Inspectors first found damaged core components in one of the facility’s primary generating engines. As crews worked to repair that issue, they uncovered an additional fault: a frayed, damaged wire that caused the engine to shut down without warning. What made this malfunction particularly hard to diagnose was its intermittent nature – the engine would often restart and run normally for periods before failing again, extending troubleshooting time.
Compounding these existing challenges, the utility added, were unforeseen issues with several rental generators that were supposed to pick up slack during maintenance work. The rental units failed to operate consistently, further straining electricity production across the island.
To address the immediate crisis, BPL mobilized cross-island technical teams from Eleuthera, New Providence, and Abaco to collaborate on diagnostics and repairs. In the weeks following the onset of outages, crews have successfully repaired or replaced all damaged engine components and faulty wiring, while making critical adjustments to the underperforming rental generators to restore functionality. Throughout the repair process, the company says it worked to redistribute available power across affected communities as much as possible to minimize ongoing disruption for residents and local businesses.
While the immediate faults have been resolved, BPL openly acknowledged that the repeated outages highlight deeper systemic issues: Eleuthera’s power sector relies heavily on aging infrastructure, requiring long-term, large-scale upgrades to prevent future blackouts. To that end, the utility has announced two major infrastructure projects set to come online by 2027.
First, independent power producer EA Energy will install 20 megawatts of new natural gas-fired generation capacity on the island, with completion scheduled for before the summer of 2027. The new gas turbines are designed to replace a large share of the output from the island’s aging existing generating units, reducing dependence on both old equipment and temporary rental generators that have proven unreliable.
Second, a new utility-scale solar power plant is currently under development at the Hatchet Bay Power Station site, targeted for completion in early 2027. The project will add 8.7 megawatts of solar generating capacity, paired with on-site battery energy storage systems to smooth out fluctuations in solar output and keep the grid stable.
BPL says the combination of these three resources – continuous base load power from natural gas, low-carbon daytime generation from solar that cuts fuel costs, and grid stability support from battery storage – will create a far more resilient and reliable power system for Eleuthera than the current outdated setup.
Anthony Christie, BPL’s chief operating officer, recognized that repeated outages have left the island’s residents deeply frustrated, and emphasized that the company is committed to delivering tangible, lasting improvement. “We know the people of Eleuthera are tired of repeated power outages, and we understand their frustration. Our teams have worked hard to fix the recent problems, but our responsibility doesn’t end there,” Christie said. “We are bringing new power generation to Eleuthera because our customers deserve reliable electricity. Our focus is on fewer outages, faster repairs and better service for every community on the island.”
The company closed its statement by thanking Eleuthera residents for their patience throughout the recent disruptions and ongoing upgrade work, noting that technical teams will continue round-the-clock monitoring of the island’s power system as the long-term improvement projects move forward.