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Announcement of VIElectron/Honeywell and WAPA Partnership Faces Hurdle as Authority's Lawyer Objects to Deal's Negotiation Process
On Thursday, even as WAPA’s board decided that discussions on a deal to implement a key aspect of the power purchase agreements between itself and VIElectron was premature, Government House threw its support behind the solar company’s announced partnership with a major battery manufacturer.
During a meeting of the Water & Power Authority’s Governing Board, officials from VI Electron sought to apprise board members of a new development that they said could “allow us to drastically reduce the price of power from the current power purchase agreements,” according to Christian Loranger, VIElectron’s founder. However, that effort was blocked by WAPA’s General Counsel Dionne Sinclair, who declared that a vendor having direct communication with the board was outside the legal procurement process.
Ms. Sinclair noted that the signed power purchase agreements make reference to subsequent agreements regarding battery storage, however those have not yet been executed. “So that still has to be negotiated with yourself, maybe with other vendors,” she remarked. The regular process for a vendor would be to approach the CEO, Ms. Sinclair instructed, “and once all the data is passed and the decision is made, it will then be presented to the board. To kind of skip the initial step…deviates completely from our procurement process.”
