Sustainable Business Magazine 05/18

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SUSTAINABLE ISSUE 05/18

B U S I N E S S

M A G A Z I N E

C&S WHOLESALE GROCERS

SUPER VALUE PCL CONSTRUCTION HON. MELANIE GEORGE SMITH MEMBER OF THE DELAWARE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (5TH DISTRICT)

VIRGIN ISLANDS NEXT

GENERATION NETWORK

BALLARD POWER SYSTEMS CARIBBEAN FLAVOURS & FRAGRANCES

ALSO FEATURED THIS ISSUE

CANSIA • EDGECHEM • ISD BAHAMAS

S U S TA I N I N G T O M O R R O W. T O D AY

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Editor:

George Newell

Senior Writer:

Marcus Bonnano

Profile Writer:

Liam Pritchett

Contributors:

Melanie George Smith

John A. Gorman

Regional Managers:

Jacob Hall

Graeme Watts

Editorial Researcher:

George Bell

Web Administrator: Ashley Hewitt

CONTENTS ISSUE 05/18

Welcome to the latest North American edition of Sustainable Business Magazine Sustainable Business Magazine aims to spread awareness of the values of sustainability, as well as the exciting ways in which organizations continue to meet challenges and champion corporate social responsibility.

We begin this issue with a Q&A from Melanie George Smith, outgoing Democratic member of the Delaware House of Representatives for the 5th District, about the new Delaware Sustainability Certificate and how it responds to a market need for greater corporate transparency about sustainability practices. We also spoke to Christopher Trajkovski, Vice President of Transportation and Fleet Maintenance at C&S Wholesale Grocers, about how the largest wholesale grocery supplier and distributor in the United States is taking a new, innovative approach to their transportation fleet.

Our ‘Solar Leadership’ series returns this issue, produced in partnership with the Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA). Each installment celebrates how CanSIA members are delivering clean, reliable renewable energy, and is prefaced by a foreword by John A. Gorman, President and CEO of CanSIA. This issue, we caught up with Andrew Moles, Director, Solar at PCL Construction, about optimization and new frontiers in renewable energy.

We also spoke to Nicolas Pocard, Director of Marketing at Ballard Power Systems, about the latest developments in hydrogen fuel cell technology, and how portable energy could impact the future of electrification.

In the Bahamas, we checked in again with Naveen Gupta, CEO of ISD Bahamas, about the latest environmental developments in Bahamian construction. We also spoke to Rupert Roberts, President and Founder of Super Value Food Stores Ltd, about working with local suppliers to deliver a consistent supply of healthy, affordable food for customers.

Elsewhere in the Caribbean, we spoke to Virgin Islands Next Generation Network’s CEO, Dr. Mark McGibbon, and Procurement Director, Ken Farrington, about improving access to the internet in the U.S. Virgin Islands. To wrap up this issue, we took a special look at Jamaican companies which are driving exports and contributing to the local community, with conversations with Melissa McHargh, General Manager at EdgeChem, and Derrick Cotterell, Managing Director at Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances.

Details of upcoming sustainability events in North America throughout November, December, and January can be found on our events calendar. Our featured events are the Energy Expo (formerly the MiaGreen Expo & Conference) on 23rd and 24th January 2019 at the MACC Convention Center in Miami, and the Water Expo on 28th and 29th August 2019, also at the MACC Convention Center.

We hope that you find this issue both interesting and inspiring. Thank you for reading.

The Sustainable Business Magazine Team

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Q&A Hon. Melanie George Smith, Member of the Delaware House of Representatives (5th District)

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C&S Wholesale Grocers

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Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA) Foreword

16

PCL Construction

24

Ballard Power Systems

28

ISD Bahamas

36

Super Value

44

Virgin Islands Next Generation Network (viNGN)

48

EdgeChem Jamaica

52

Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances

56

Global Events

57

Advertisers Index

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ISSUE05/18 COVER IMAGE C&S WHOLESALE GROCERS. STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY FROM SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

© SBM Media Ltd 2018. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form for any purpose, other than short sections for the purpose of review, without prior consent of the publisher.

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Q&A THE HONORABLE MELANIE GEORGE SMITH

The Honorable Melanie George Smith, Member of the Delaware House of Representatives (5th District).

What is the Delaware Certificate?

The Delaware Certification of Adoption of Sustainability and Transparency Standards Act is a certification by the Delaware Secretary of State that an entity has achieved a minimum level of commitment to sustainability, namely that the entity’s governing board has adopted resolutions committing to sustainability, and that the entity is completely transparent about their sustainability efforts.

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What was the impetus behind drafting this piece of legislation?

When you start talking with stakeholders in the sustainability space, you realize there are many frustrations. There isn’t one unified set of standards or framework that companies use. In fact, within the same industry, different companies can use different standards. This makes it difficult to compare efforts between companies and industries. Stakeholders also want more information about what companies are doing to be sustainable.

We saw a market need for creating a standardized measure of a company’s level of commitment to sustainability. If an entity is willing to be completely transparent around its sustainability efforts, they are holding themselves open to criticism for their efforts. Only companies that are truly committed to sustainability are going to be willing to share with the public their sustainability efforts.

In order to obtain a Delaware Certificate, a company must have a direct link from the home page of its main company website to its sustainability efforts, including their standards adopted, metrics used to measure their performance, and outcomes.

How will the act “foster dialogue around sustainability and responsibility” in Delaware businesses?

The information that companies make public will provide the marketplace the ability to judge the quality of the work that is being done around sustainability at a particular company, and aggregated across an industry or industries. That information will allow a company’s stakeholders to review what the company is doing and either reward the company for their efforts or critique and offer suggestions. Policy analysts, researchers, NGOs, and academics will have access to information that will be useful in identifying best practices and other analyses of the data.

Why is the Act particularly timely at the present moment?

We have reached a tipping point. Nearly all major corporations are committed to sustainability. They are pushing their supply chain of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to get on board. Millennials in the job market want to work for companies that are committed to sustainability. Investors are starting to demand it of their investments. However, there’s a resource and knowledge gap for the smaller entities. The Delaware Certificate provides them a cost-effective way to show their sustainability commitment to their stakeholders.

Furthermore, with the United States federal government seemingly not supportive of sustainability initiatives and policies, we need to work at the state and local level, so that the pressure will rise up organically.

In an era of political partisanship, this piece of legislation attracted bipartisan support. In your view, are there any lessons other lawmakers can learn from the successful passage of this act when drafting future sustainability legislation?

Opposition to this legislation was not necessarily split along party lines. Some of the far-left worried this legislation was somehow too favorable to business, although they eventually came around after learning more. Meanwhile, the far-right thought this was too much government regulation. In fact, our legislation doesn’t regulate companies – it’s purely voluntary – but I couldn’t change that perception among a handful of hard-core, far-right Republicans.

They were also concerned with a slippery slope. By creating a Certificate on Sustainability, what would we create next – a Certificate for having a family?

My best suggestion to other legislators is to do your research, meet with local companies that are strong supporters of sustainability, and seek their buy-in from the inception. I think had I gone to my legal and legislative colleagues with the backing of some well-respected businesses initially, I would have had more early success.

I would also suggest forming a bipartisan legislative coalition in support of sustainability legislation. It can’t be seen as a left-wing movement to take money from the rich and save the environment at

the expense of business. Sustainability needs to be explained and understood to mean a long-term win-win business strategy where companies profit though improving their impact on the world. I wouldn’t support legislation that would negatively impact Delaware corporations, the operations of which comprise a significant percentage of the state’s revenue.

What else is Delaware is doing in support of sustainability?

We just established the Sustainable Delaware Commission. The Commission has two key goals: To make Delaware’s state government operations sustainable, and to create the infrastructure in Delaware to support sustainability among the private, non-profit, and local government sectors.

In terms of the state government, this means ensuring that we have diversity in leadership among our 30,000 employees, that we pay a livable wage, that our procurement expenditures are not made for goods and services made with child labor or trafficked labor, that our fleet and state-owned buildings are energy efficient, and so forth.

For infrastructure, we will develop a plan to graduate a workforce from schools and institutions of higher education who are trained in, understand, and value sustainability. We will create technical assistance programs and provide resources to help educate organizational leaders and employees around sustainability strategy and implementation.

What’s next?

I’m retiring from the legislature as of the November election this year.

I am devoting the next phase of my career to advising governments, non-profits, and companies, including SMEs, how they can benefit from and incorporate sustainability into their business strategy.

I am also in the process of creating an International Council of Sustainable Governments. Governments at any level – from national governments to municipal governments – can join. This Council will serve as a way for governments to send a signal to the world of their commitment to sustainability, in addition to allowing public officials to work together to share successes, lessons learned, model programs, and much more. c SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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C&S WHOLESALE GROCERS

TODAY, C&S OWNS AND OPERATES A FLEET OF APPROXIMATELY 1,000 TRACTOR UNITS, WITH ANOTHER 1,000 OWNED AND OPERATED BY THIRD PARTIES.

DRIVING

PERFORMANCE Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Christopher Trajkovski, Vice President of Transportation and Fleet Maintenance at C&S Wholesale Grocers, about a new approach to asset replacement, embracing new technologies, and close relationships with partners and customers.

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C&S WHOLESALE GROCERS

C&S HAVE BEEN ABLE TO BRING INNOVATIONS INTO THEIR FLEET QUICKLY, RESULTING IN A SAFER, MORE EFFICIENT, MORE COMPETITIVE TRANSPORTATION NETWORK.

C&S Wholesale Grocers is the largest wholesale grocery supplier and distributor in the United States, as well as America’s tenth-largest privately-held company. Headquartered in Keene, New Hampshire, C&S Wholesale Grocers was founded in 1918 by Israel Cohen and Abraham Siegel as a small brick warehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts, delivering groceries to local stores. In the subsequent century, C&S have grown to span the Northeastern United States, the 6 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Mid-Atlantic states, the Southeast, Texas, and California, supplying products from their twenty-six distribution centers to over 14,000 supermarkets and chain stores, from the smallest independents to large regional chains like Stop & Shop, Safeway, Target, and Winn-Dixie.

The last decade has seen rapid expansion at C&S Wholesale Grocers, as a result of a series of acquisitions. “In the last couple of years, we’ve gone from being a ware-

house-centric, procurement-centric organization, to transportation becoming much more critical in the equation as we deliver solutions for our independent- and chain-level customers,” explains Christopher Trajkovski, Vice President of Transportation and Fleet Maintenance at C&S Wholesale Grocers.

“Some of our recent acquisitions came with fleets, which meant our overall fleet grew enormously, sometimes literally overnight.

This meant we needed to quickly gain the

experience to bring efficiencies, productivity, and asset utilization to the equation.”

OUTSIZE IMPACT Today, C&S owns and operates a fleet of approximately 1,000 tractor units, with another 1,000 owned and operated by third parties. With such a large fleet, relatively small changes can have an outsize impact on costs, fuel consumption, and overall productivity. “We had a patchwork of several

different fleets that were brought into our network,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “As we started bringing in productivity initiatives and driving efficiencies, that helped us understand the urgency of operating in the top quartile in terms of our metrics, whether it’s asset utilization or fuel economy ratings.”

Back in 2015, a visitor to one of C&S’s vehicle storage facilities might have seen a row of older tractor-trailers. “These would have been low-technology assets, not con-

nected to any tracking,” says Mr. Trajkovski.

“The unit is safe from the standpoint that it’s legal to be on the road, but it isn’t as safe as it could be. It’s somewhat blackish, dirty, and aged.”

Today, a visitor would get a very different picture: A row of newly-purchased tractor and trailer units, with new safety and fuel economy features incorporated, like engine control units to improve performance, low-rolling tires, the Halo tire SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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C&S WHOLESALE GROCERS

inflation system for tractors and the Meritor system for trailers, and Transtex’s EDGE skirts installed for aerodynamic optimization. “Also, instead of a 53-foot trailer, my fleet has been right-sized for what actually goes out, so it may only be a 50-foot trailer, which means I can save additional weight on each one of those trailers,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “It’s a radically different picture. The transportation component has now become a key deliverable, to the point where it is a competitive advantage for us.”

REPLACEMENT CYCLE So what effected this radical transformation of C&S’s fleet in such a short space of time?

In large part, these changes are the result of C&S’s 2016 overhaul of their asset replace-

ment cycle. “We didn’t really have a formal replacement cycle or process at the time,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “There was no defined length of term for how long we should own a trailer, for example, or an over-the-road tractor. So at the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016, we built out what we felt our strategy should look like to allow us to gravitate from a perpetual maintenance cycle to a perpetual replacement cycle.”

It took six months for C&S to build a new model for tracking the costs associated with an asset through its lifecycle. “It wasn’t simply acquisition cost, repair, maintenance, and disposal,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “We literally looked at every hand that touches that vehicle over the lifecycle. We incorporated hundreds of elements. For example, we tracked through the lifecycle to understand diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), because future engines will require an additional percentage of diesel-to-DEF ratio. We calculated how much labor it takes to maintain a tractor once it’s out of its warranty period.

We incorporated the longer dwell time old equipment spends in the shop bay, which requires a higher quantity of assets to make up for that.”

One key element, however, was excluded from C&S’s economic model. “We kept the pricing of fuel completely out of this scenario,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “I can’t stress enough the importance of this decision. We can’t control geopolitical conditions, and market conditions, and catastrophic weather conditions. So we just detached that completely, and said: ‘Don’t worry about the unit price; focus only on consumption.’”

This economic model was applied across C&S’s tractors, their refrigerated units, and their dry van trailers. “In addition to fuel economy and asset utilization, we also incorporated safety in all these elements,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “We’re talking about collision mitigation systems, lane departure systems, disc brakes on all axles including the trailing units. We believed this would drive performance, not only in accident frequency but also in dollar exposure to risk. The whole model meant the organization could really understand that we needed a formal replacement cycle and process. That was the key foundational block for us. You can’t build the structure unless you have that solid base.”

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EMBRACING INNOVATION By emphasizing the rapid replacement of units, and by utilizing a sophisticated economic model to accurately project the effect of new technologies, C&S have been able to bring innovations into their fleet quickly, resulting in a safer, more efficient, more competitive transportation network.

“We no longer have to wait for new technologies,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “The strategy has allowed us to incorporate items like aerodynamics, lightweighting, air pressure monitoring systems on tires, fuel economy tires, all these kinds of things.”

Simultaneously, C&S have invested in telematics and satellite tracking, to get more detailed data on their asset use.

“We’ve been able to understand we don’t necessarily need to have enough assets for the whole year,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “We need enough for the eightieth percentile, and then we can leverage rentals when we need to. The technology today has helped us get there. In the past, it was anecdotal; today, it’s much more fact- and data-based.”

In conjunction with embracing this new approach to lifecycle management, C&S has built up a whole supporting transportation

infrastructure. “We have an asset team now and we have a fleet reliability center,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “That meant we had to add headcount support, but everyone understands that there has been a return on every one of those investments. We’re fortunate that the organization had the willingness and the appetite to understand what the future would look like. Though we try not to think about fuel prices, fuel prices have actually gone up at the same time as our average fuel efficiency has gone up, so it has helped up offset some of those negative trends.”

TRANSPARENT RELATIONSHIPS A pivotal component of C&S’s new approach to asset replacement is maintain-

ing strong lines of communication with technology partners, backed up by data.

“With our suppliers, our original equipment manufacturers, and our dealers, we have a reliability touchpoint every quarter where we hold each other accountable,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “It becomes more of a partnership in building each other’s enterprises.

It also helps educate our suppliers to understand what our appetite is for future technologies. Our principle is: We want to learn early, we want to learn fast, and if we fail, we want to fail as early as possible.

When you build those relationships and that rapport, they understand what the uptake is going to be for those new technologies. They understand our ethos and

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C&S WHOLESALE GROCERS

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our longer-term agenda, so they know when a technology or an idea is a good fit to bring to us. Then we are transparent with them, and when we collect data, we share it with them. We don’t view that as being proprietary; we want to help them be stronger.”

BENEFITS OF CHANGE Embracing cutting-edge technology allows C&S not only to reduce costs but also to serve customers better. “We’re only two and a half years into this process, but as it becomes part of our normal course of business, it’s becoming more and more a competitive advantage for us,” say Mr. Trajkovski. “For example, on-time delivery is critical today. If we’re not making a delivery window, it wastes labor resources at the end location. We’re currently doing a remarkable job in educating the customer-facing jobs in our organization to leverage what we’re doing in terms of efficiency. That’s something which is definitely going to differentiate us in this sector.”

Of course, these investments in reducing fuel consumption and improving efficiencies also affect environmental performance. “From an environmental standpoint, we look at these new assets holistically,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “We don’t just look at the acquisition or the fuel consumption. We look at acquisition, operation, maintenance, and the mode of disposal.

Given the shortened lifecycle on our assets, we’re trying to optimize the first half million miles as much as possible, while also using warranties and performance measures to ensure our suppliers can be held accountable for the performance of these assets.

Data, education, and change management are all critical to ensuring our performance is optimal. Every quarter, we circle back on our assumptions to ensure that our metrics

are being met, and if they aren’t, we look into what we need to do.”

MEASURING SUCCESS Based on the first two-and-a-half years of the new asset replacement cycle, C&S have either met or exceeded their budget assumptions in almost all efficiency and uptime metrics. “Our fuel economy is actually better than we thought it’d be,” says Mr. Trajkovski.

“Our reliability is better than we expected.

We’ve actually been able to net assets out of the system with the same baseline of freight.

It’s now about bringing all the different assets together – not just the tractor, but the dry van and the terminal tractor as well – so they’re all in sync, and they’re all delivering the efficiencies they’re supposed to.”

Next, C&S plan to begin using renewable and alternative sources of energy.

“We’re working with a couple of key suppliers on solar-powered supported refrigeration units,” says Mr. Trajkovski. “Since 2017, all our refrigeration units have come with electric standby. The electric unit is far quieter, and reduces noise pollution. Solar would mean the tops of the trailers are equipped with the latest-technology solar panels, which would allow us to collect energy as we make deliveries. We needed to get our arms wrapped around the basics, which was a replacement cycle which supported the longer-term vision and strategy for our fleet. We can now look at alternative energy, like incorporating electric, and perhaps compressed natural gas, perhaps hybrids, and other technologies. We are on our third generation of ownership, and our owner is often quoted saying: ‘What got us here isn’t going to get us there.’ That means we have to continually grow, we have to change, and we have to evolve to remain competitive and to keep bringing value to our customers.” c

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CANADIAN SOLAR INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION SOLAR PARK OWNED BY CAPSTONE INFRASTRUCTURE CORPORATION AND DESIGNED, BUILT AND OPERATED BY SUNPOWER, BOTH CANSIA MEMBERS.

CANSIA PROUDLY REPRESENTS MANUFACTURERS, INSTALLERS, PROJECT DEVELOPERS, BUILDERS, ARCHITECTS, ENGINEERS, CONSULTANTS, AND A VARIETY OF OTHER COMPANIES AND STAKEHOLDERS WHO WANT TO SEE SOLAR ENERGY GROW IN CANADA.

LEADERSHIP A foreword by John A. Gorman, President and CEO of the Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA).

On behalf of the members of the Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA), I am pleased to offer this foreword to the “Solar Leadership” series in Sustainable Business Magazine. The sun provides an inexhaustible supply of clean fuel to power our homes and our economy.

Solar energy is positioned to play a key role in our transition to carbon-free lives and a carbon-free economy.

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The goal of our Association is to build a Canadian solar energy industry which is strong, efficient, ethical, and professional, with capacity to provide innovative solar energy solutions and to play a major role in the global transition to a sustainable, clean-energy future. CanSIA proudly represents manufacturers, installers, project developers, builders, architects, engineers, consultants, and a variety of other companies and stakeholders who want to see solar energy grow in Canada.

Canada has become one of the leading markets for solar PV globally and represented one of the top 10 countries in 2014 and 2015, with an average of 675 MW installed in those years. Our national cumulative installed capacity will soon surpass 3 GW. More than ever before, CanSIA’s members are poised to solidify solar electricity as a mainstream energy source and secure solar as an integral part of Canada’s diversified electricity mix.

Ontario has been the leading solar market in Canada for many years. More than

99% of the country’s almost 3 GW of solar is located in the province due to the Green Energy and Economy Act (GEEA), which sought to counter the potentially devastating implications of the global financial crisis of 2008. The GEEA gave rise to the province’s feed-in tariff programs, which for a number of years made the province one of the hottest solar markets in the world.

The Canadian solar market is entering a new phase as Ontario considers whether to increase, maintain, or decrease the scale and pace of solar deployment in the coming years. However, CanSIA believes that updated net metering regulations and new climate change incentives will ensure that Ontario has a viable, sustainable, and growing solar market. Furthermore, new policies and programs at the federal level and in Western Canada are expected to create new opportunities and turn the solar market into a truly national market.

Solar uptake has doubled in Alberta since 2015, bolstered by initiatives like the

Alberta Municipal Solar Program and the On-Farm Solar PV Program. Over the next five years, the Residential and Commercial Solar Program will build on these existing programs. Homeowners, businesses and non-profit organizations will receive rebates for rooftop solar panels as early as this summer under the Alberta government’s $36-million rebate program for solar installation on residential and commercial buildings.

Although Canada’s federal government has largely been absent on climate change and renewable energy for the past decade, our current Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has garnered global attention for his progressive social and environmental views and his popularity among young people. His government has committed to 90% non-emitting electricity sector by 2030, to powering federal government operations and buildings with 100% renewable electricity by 2025, and has announced billions of dollars in funding programs to make the electricity supply cleaner and smarter.

Capital costs for solar have declined by 65% over the last 6 years, to where solar + storage technology is getting cheaper than anyone ever imagined. The value of solar + storage is exactly what electricity systems of the future need (i.e. empowered consumers and a clean, cost effective solution that enhances the predictability, reliability, flexibili-

ty, and resilience of the electricity grid) with none of the unwelcome and costly social, health, and environmental externalities.

Combined innovations in solar applications, like Tesla’s Solar Roof and in storage, like Elon Musk’s Powerwall energy storage system, designed to connect to a home solar installation, will revolutionize our energy system and make every home energy independent. The solar world has been anticipating this day, and is abuzz with the possibilities. Solar + storage is the key to making solar dispatchable as it circumvents the energy source’s main difficulty, that the energy it generates is only available when the sun is shining.

As we learn to adapt to a carbon-constrained future, growing load on the

electricity system with plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), a new model of energy consumption is emerging. Getting that energy from renewable sources like solar is a primary objective. Solar’s unique nature as a distributed source of energy means that it can empower Canadians to reduce their carbon footprints, not only with respect to their electricity use, but also by enabling carbon reductions in buildings, industry, and transportation. As we hope to demonstrate in this series, the solar industries sector recognizes the importance of clean fuels to Canadians. We encourage you to read more about CanSIA and the work of the solar industry at www.cansia.ca, or contact me with your questions or comments at jgorman@cansia.ca. c INVERTER ASSEMBLY LINE OF CANSIA MEMBER, FRONIUS.

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PCL

SUBSIDY-FREE

SOLAR

Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Andrew Moles, Director, Solar at PCL Construction, about driving down costs, optimizing energy generation, and constructing renewable projects in diverse markets.

ORILLIA SOLAR PANELS.

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TODAY, PCL IS ENGAGING WITH THE NEXT FRONTIER OF RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION: BRINGING COSTS DOWN TO THE POINT THAT RENEWABLES CAN COMPETE WITH FOSSIL FUEL GENERATION, EVEN IN MARKETS WITHOUT SUBSIDIES.

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PCL

“WE’RE VERY FOCUSED ON DRIVING DOWN THE COSTS OF PROJECTS THROUGH CREATIVE DESIGN WHILE INCREASING THE PERFORMANCE AT THE SAME TIME.”

PCL Construction – one of the largest contracting organizations in North America – is involved in solar projects globally.

Having started out offering solar exclusively in Ontario, by early 2017, the last time Sustainable Business Magazine spoke to PCL

Construction, the company had successfully repositioned its solar capabilities to reach all markets in which it operates, including Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and Australia. (See Sustainable Business Magazine issue 2/17 for the full feature.)

Today, PCL is engaging with the next frontier of renewable energy generation: Bringing costs down to the point that renewables can compete with fossil fuel generation, even in markets without subsidies.

IMPROVING COSTS “In the first half of 2018, we picked up another 165MW of solar projects,” says Andrew Moles, Director, Solar at PCL Construction. “That’s one 86MW project, one 66MW project, and one 18MW project. For one of

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those projects, between the base design and our optimized design, we were able to lower the capital costs by 7%, while at the same time increasing the electricity generation by almost 3% resulting in a significant reduction of the client’s Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE).”

PCL uses an “Expert to Expert (E2E)” approach with each client team, involving a combination of engineers and advanced modelers in conjunction with the client’s own design team to achieve the most efficient design solutions. “We’re very focused on driving down the costs of projects through creative design while increasing the performance at the same time,” says Mr. Moles. “We have the very best design engineers in-house who are solely focused

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on optimizing solar projects. We also have cutting-edge, internally-developed software, which means we can very quickly adjust performance modeling, designs, and pricing.

Between the software and our engineering team, we’re able to decrease the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) across projects, which creates greater return opportunities for our development partners.”

With experience, PCL has been able to draw lessons which drive down costs for subsequent projects. “It’s about continuous improvement through every project we design and build,” says Mr. Moles. “We always look back and say: ‘Could we have tweaked

something? Could we have done something differently?’ We also stay up to date with the new technology that’s coming out, and make sure our design approach integrates the new technology in such a way that we can get value out of it. In this way, we ensure we’re constantly driving down the LCOE, looking to get it at par with or below other electricity sources.”

ORILLIA SOLAR PANELS FROM UNDERNEATH.

SOUTHGATE SOLAR FARM SUBSTATION WITH CONSTRUCTION WORKER.

NEW HOMES FOR SOLAR With more sophisticated software, affordable, optimized solar generation becomes an option even in more challenging environments. “Our 3D modelling tools for tracker

SOUTHGATE SOLAR PANELS WITH SHEEP.

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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PCL SOUTHGATE SOLAR PANELS WITH SHEEP.

systems allow us to accurately model solar performance even in very rough, hilly terrain,” explains Mr. Moles. “Projects built on squares in flat ground in the desert are fewer and fewer now. There are a lot of areas where the land isn’t the most attractive where it makes sense to build solar. Those areas have been lagging in construction and in LCOE, simply because the grading requirements and geotechnical conditions are a little more challenging. With our internal software, we can accurately model the site to minimize the grading requirements for trackers or fixed-tilt solutions while still guaranteeing a good performance ratio at the end of the day.”

With their combination of internal software and engineering expertise, PCL have

been able to install successful projects in some unusual places. “Years ago, I referred to a solar project as a ‘solar farm’, as many of us in the industry do,” says Mr. Moles.

“A farmer who I was speaking to took exception – because a solar project really isn’t typically a farm. But more recently, we built the 60MW Southgate Solar Project which really is a ‘solar farm’. The land is still used for grazing sheep! We had to implement a few different provisions in the design and construction to ensure that everything was protected from the sheep, but essentially the developer has reduced their operating and maintenance costs because they don’t have grass cutting costs. Although you’ll only ever hear me refer to these as ‘solar projects’ now, it was

SOUTHGATE SOLAR PANELS WITH CONSTRUCTION WORKER.

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SOUTHGATE SOLAR POWER TRANSMISSION LINES.

eye-opening to see that you can innovate to retain the original use of the land in some of these respects.”

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS In addition to their modeling software, PCL have integrated IT into their processes to improve efficiency and transparency. “We have a fully paperless and automated quality control and scheduling program, which enables owners, lenders, and independent engineers full access into what’s happening daily onsite,” says Mr. Moles. “This system has been driving the industry forward, allowing contractors and owners to work together, as well as cutting down on both management staff and review time for all technical documents. We’ve also developed internal

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PCL SUMMERSIDE.

WHEN OPERATING IN DIVERSE MARKETS, PCL ENSURE TO INVOLVE THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES.

software for commissioning, which identifies minor issues onsite within twelve hours, and allows us to commission these sites faster than anyone else in the industry.” Through PCL’s continued focus on these systems, they are able to deliver projects with increasing confidence in on time delivery with better overall project performance.

BANKING ENERGY As the cost equation changes in the solar industry, new opportunities are emerging to store collected energy in battery systems. “PCL has built four battery storage SOUTHGATE SOLAR PANELS VIEW DOWN ROAD.

22 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

projects to date,” says Mr. Moles. “Three of those were stand-alone grid connected projects, and one of those was integrated with solar into a facility. In addition to those, we’ve been building battery storage solutions at our off-site manufacturing plant, PCL Agile, and deploying those to sites where they’ll be connected. “Offsite construction is not a new concept, but it is one that has been slow to grow and develop in parts of North America. Although we are seeing some traction in the market for accelerated building practices, at PCL we recognized the opportunities, including

quality and speed to market, that have made it thrive in the global industry, and we wanted to get in front of this.”

Today, with the decline in battery technology pricing and the improvement in the controls, as well as a need driven by grid challenges and intermittent generation from renewable energy, a new market is coming for battery energy projects. “We’re seeing a lot of stand-alone requests for battery energy storage projects,” says Mr. Moles. “Also, the majority of our projects from 2020 onwards for solar and wind have a component of battery storage worked

SUMMERSIDE.

into the project. We expect this trend to continue, and for more and more renewable energy projects to have batteries deployed alongside them. As this technology involves, PCL wants to ensure that we are on the leading edge of this wave as it revolutionizes the energy grid.”

VALUED RELATIONSHIPS Since the first time Sustainable Business Magazine spoke to PCL Construction, in 2015, the company’s renewable energy division has undergone a huge transformation, widening their area of operations to cover not just Canada but the United States, the Caribbean, and Australia. “PCL is an industry leader, and we employ best practices with respect to safety, environment, and quality in all our projects,” says Mr. Moles. “We understand the local markets and local requirements in all the places we do work, which means we ultimately understand the different permits and connection requirements that are paramount to meeting client deliverables. As we start looking into solar battery storage and wind projects in some of these different markets, it gives us an advantage – because we

already work there, and we know the lay of the land.”

When operating in diverse markets, PCL ensures they involve the local communities. “It’s really important for us to make sure we’re not viewed as coming in as a foreign entity, bringing a bunch of our workers in, and then leaving with all the money from the project,” says Mr. Moles. “So we hold open houses and hire as many local businesses and personnel as possible. Two of our recent projects have First Nations as an ownership partner. We’ve been putting a big focus on increasing opportunities for First Nations personnel in and around the communities where our projects are being built. That doesn’t just mean jobs on the project; it also means training, so they can gain skills and hopefully continue working in the solar industry.”

SUBSIDY-FREE As the solar industry matures, it is becoming more able to compete with traditional fossil fuel energy production. “Ultimately, the market is becoming more and more cost-competitive with other types of electricity,” says Mr. Moles. “The ultimate goal

throughout North America and globally is to drive the solar market into a subsidy-free environment. By optimizing performance and balancing with capital costs and operational costs, we’re driving the industry in that direction fairly aggressively.”

In doing so, PCL are able to develop projects in new markets, some of which don’t have subsidies for renewables. “Like any new industry, sometimes it takes subsidies to get it moving forward,” says Mr. Moles. “But it isn’t responsible to assume that subsidies are always going to exist. To really change the world from an electricity standpoint, renewable energy technology needs to be able to compete with traditional forms of energy generation. We’re there in a lot of markets now. It’s our goal to take this approach everywhere PCL operates, all across North America, throughout the Caribbean, and to Australia, to drive the cost down as far as we can. This will mean, ultimately, the consumer is getting renewable, clean electricity, at no additional charge.

We’ll continue to grow solar, wind, and battery storage project portfolios in all our markets, with an ultimate goal of driving the industry to a subsidy-free environment.” c

SUMMERSIDE.

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BALLARD POWER SYSTEMS

BALLARD ARE DRIVING THE EXPANSION OF FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY ACROSS A RANGE OF MARKETS.

THE NEXT NATURAL GAS Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Nicolas Pocard, Director of Marketing at Ballard Power Systems, about hydrogen fuel cell technology, the electrification of transportation, and the sustainable future of portable energy.

24 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

BALLARD FUEL CELL STACK FOR HEAVY DUTY APPLICATIONS.

Ballard Power Systems Inc. is a Vancouver-based developer and manufacturer of proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, with a presence in Canada, the United States, Europe, and China. Ballard’s products can be used in buses, trains, commercial trucks, forklifts, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and as backup power source for critical infrastructures. As businesses and state entities around the world look for better, cleaner, more cost-effective ways to produce energy, Ballard are driving the expansion of fuel cell technology across a range of markets.

“Our vision is to be the leading global provider of innovative fuel cell solutions for clean mobility,” says Nicolas Pocard, Director of Marketing at Ballard Power Systems. “Ballard was originally founded in 1979 by Geoffrey Ballard, and the initial focus of the company was to work on battery technology. Shortly after this, the company got the opportunity to work on fuel cell programs funded by both the U.S. and the Canadian governments. This technology very rapidly became the exclusive focus of the company and since then we have been developing commercial fuel cell systems.

Fuel cell technology had been around for some time but was initially just used for the military and space programs, and Ballard was really the first company to take it to a commercial level and put it on the road.

This is ultimately still the core of the company: To develop and bring to market fuel cell products, offering superior performance at a reduced operating cost.”

FLEXIBLE ENERGY CARRIER Fuel cells are different to conventional batteries in several ways, making them more efficient and more environmentally-friendly.

“A fuel cell is basically an electro-chemical device which generates electricity,” says Mr. Pocard. “The electricity is generated by an electro-chemical reaction. Compared to a normal battery where the chemicals which generate the electricity are finite, in a fuel cell you are not so constrained by fuel storage limitations within the device because the fuel itself is air and hydrogen gas, the combination of which with a catalyst keeps generating electricity. Fuel cell efficiency is very high – above 50%. In some systems we are also able to harvest heat given off by the cells to make them extra effective. At the same time, fuel cells deliver zero emissions at the tailpipe, as the only by-product of this chemical reaction is water. The process is efficient, long-lasting, and extremely economical, and hydrogen is a clean fuel suitable for widespread adoption on a societal level. It is a hugely flexible energy carrier.”

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BALLARD POWER SYSTEMS

FUTURE SIEMENS MIREO HYDROGEN TRAIN.

“A key advantage of hydrogen is you can store a large amount of energy in a small space,” explains Mr Pocard. “As long as you have access to hydrogen, the fuel cells can keep on generating power indefinitely. A second advantage is one of recharging or refuelling time. Whereas conventional batteries can take up to several hours to recharge, a fuel cell vehicle can be refuelled in a few minutes. For a car this takes less than five minutes, and for a bus or a truck still only around ten minutes. With fuel cells, an electric vehicle is long range, with minimal additional weight and very rapid refuelling. No toxic materials are used and the fuel cell stack is recyclable, so at

Ballard we recycle thousands of stacks every year. We also recycle 95% of the precious metal used as a catalyst, plus we refurbish the stacks for another life cycle. So overall the manufacturing process, the product itself, and the afterlife of the product is extremely environmentally friendly.”

ELECTRIFYING TRANSPORTATION As a consequence of these advantages, many governments, businesses, and even individual consumers are beginning to invest in fuel cells for sustainable, clean transportation. “In California there are over five thousand fuel cell-powered cars on the road,” says Mr. Pocard. “There are prob-

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ably over two hundred fuel cell powered buses operating, including in London on some of the TFL routes. These have been operating using Ballard’s systems for the last seven years. We have just been chosen to supply forty fuel cell modules for buses in the city of Cologne and Wuppertal with our partner Van Hool, which is a bus company in Belgium. They are going to build new vehicles using our fuel cell power modules, and these will be operational in 2019. That will be the largest fleet of fuel cell-powered electric buses in Europe.

There are lots of exciting things happening on the bus front in Europe with larger scale deployment projects.”

KENWORTH FUEL CELL ELECTRIC TRUCK.

Ballard sees fuel cells as an integral part of electrifying transportation. “At the end of the day, we believe in the future that this electrification will be achieved thanks to technological breakthroughs we have achieved while working on our technology,” says Mr. Pocard. “For vehicles like taxis that are in use twelve to eighteen hours a day, conventional batteries will be too limiting where fuel cells could present a viable alternative. With heavy duty vehicles too, like buses, trucks and trains, fuel cells deliver power and range without compromising the payload or passenger capacity or the fleet operation.”

SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATIONS The increasing recognition of Ballard’s fuel cell technology has led to some exciting collaborations, in addition to their work with bus OEMs like Van Hool and New Flyer. “We are very happy with our partnership with Siemens,” says Mr. Pocard.

“It is Siemens who is developing the next generation of hydrogen-powered trains.

This project is interesting as in the UK and Germany a significant part of the tracks is not electrified, so many trains are still powered by diesel. These trains are big polluters and the electrification of those lines is far too expensive for a project to be viable. Rather than electrifying the tracks, hydrogen fuel cells enable us to electrify the train into a zero emission vehicle.

Because fuel cells are solid-state power generators, there are also very few parts to fail. No oil, no pistons to replace, just effi-

cient and reliable power generation. This is very important for transport.”

“We have also extended our partnership with Audi,” explains Mr. Pocard. “Audi are developing fuel cell cars using Ballard technology, which will be ready to enter the market in approximately 2021. This will lead directly to putting emission free, fuel cell electric cars on the road.”

MEETING A NEED Continuing to work on and improve their technology is a priority for Ballard. “We are really focusing in on mobility,” says Mr. Pocard. “So buses, trucks, trains, and even marine transportation. We want to be more cost-effective, improving durability and overall costs. We want the technology to be more affordable and thereby more accessible to different groups for different purposes and applications. We will continue to work on the technical level, for example improving the power density and durability. We are now working with partners like ABB Marine in order to develop and test the technology

for different environments like marine operations. So we are again optimising the effectiveness of the technology in these different contexts to further streamline our products.

Ballard has been in this industry for nearly forty years, but this recent and continuing interest in our technology is something we have never seen before. There is a convergence of factors which are really favouring our technology, like the fight against climate change, the electrification of transportation, and increasing regulation to curb emissions and pollution.”

“There is a real need for our technology pushing forward and we are happy to be contributing,” says Mr. Pocard. “The future success of this technology and electrification is tied up in the fact that, as the world moves towards renewable energy sources, we will not be able to have everything connected on the electric grid all at once. This is an obstacle that hydrogen as a clean fuel and energy carrier can circumnavigate. We believe that hydrogen will replace the role that natural gas plays in our economy today.” c ABERDEEN FUEL CELL BUS FLEET (VANHOOL BUSES).

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ISD BAHAMAS

OVER THE PAST YEAR THEY HAVE CONTINUED WORKING WITH THE LINKED GOALS OF ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC, AND COMMUNITY SUSTAINABILITY IN MIND.

28 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

BAHAMAS

ENGINEERING

EXPERTS Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Naveen Gupta, CEO of ISD Bahamas, about environmental protection, providing clean water, and fueling Bahamian growth.

Island Site Development (ISD) Bahamas is a Bahamian civil engineering and roadworks development company. Based in Nassau, ISD is a Bahamian owned and operated company, working with both public and private sector clients to develop, design, and construct projects which benefit local communities, support the employment of Bahamian nationals, and improve the physical environment.

Last time Sustainable Business Magazine spoke to ISD Bahamas, the company discussed their emphasis on renewal and renovation, specifically in regard to the Paradise Island Bridge refurbishment project and the Big Pond Park Development (see Sustainable Business Magazine issue 02/17 for the full feature). ISD also discussed the future of their work increasing the accessibility of fresh water to communities, as well as the importance of their skilled Bahamian employees. Over the past year they have continued working with the linked goals of

environmental, economic, and community sustainability in mind.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Working closely with private and government organizations, one of ISD’s specialist fields of expertise is projects which restore the local environment to a safe and sustainable state. One such project focuses on the expansive beach areas surrounding Nassau.

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ISD BAHAMAS

ONE OF ISD’S SPECIALIST FIELDS OF EXPERTISE IS PROJECTS WHICH RESTORE THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENT TO A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE STATE.

“This project is funded by the Ministry of Public Works, and prioritizes environmental protection,” says Naveen Gupta, CEO of ISD Bahamas. “We are building a wall to stop oil leaks from the land to the ocean.

At the Bahamas Power Plant at Clifton Pier, over the last 30 years they have had some oil contamination in the surrounding ground, which makes its way into the sea in a slow but continuous spill. So the Ministry of Public Works employed Bahamas Marine Construc-

30 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

tion, an ISD company, to build 1500 feet of concrete wall in front of the facility.”

Addressing these existing environmental issues through remediation can become complicated and time-consuming. “It’s a challenge because of the continuous oil seepage,” explains Mr. Gupta. “BP are also collecting the oil from the ground surrounding the power plant, so it’s a combination effort between BP and Bahamas Marine Construction to build and clean at

the same time. But by the end of March, oil seepage should have already slowed by approximately 95%, bearing in mind we started the project in November 2017 and it is due to finish July 2018.”

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT ISD ensure they bring the latest technology to the Bahamian market, adopting new techniques to improve costs for their clients and making available the latest in sustain-

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• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Commercial Construction Heavy Concrete Construction Retaining Structures Parking Decks Masonry Walls Pre-Cast Manufacturing Wastewater Treatment Plants Office Buildings Retail And Restaurants Hotel And Motel Schools Multi-family

ISD BAHAMAS able advancements. “Most of our designs come out of the United States, and they are pretty up to date,” says Mr. Gupta. “We keep up with the latest technology and the latest materials. For example, as techniques are improving we are doing a new project for the Bahamas Water & Sewerage Corporation involving the rehabilitation of sewer structures in New Providence. The emphasis with new technology is efficiency, lowering energy waste, and using the new technology for the Bahamas, which is good for the territory and for the public.”

The Bahamas is dependent on costly imported fossil fuels for energy, and consequently is an eager adopter of energy-saving technologies. “The cost of energy here is very high and people are becoming more energy conscious, using LED lights and other techniques that have economic and environmental benefits,” says Mr. Gupta. “There is also something called the Water Supply Improvement Project, which is a project for Water & Sewerage funded by the Caribbean Development Bank, in which we are providing drinking water to the public across several islands in the Bahamas. We are in the final stages of completing a project on

South Andros Island, where we installed roughly 130,000 feet of water mains.”

HUMAN RESOURCES As a Bahamian-owned and operated company, ISD are also known for providing crucial support to their employees and

the broader community. “We send our employees to training multiple times, and for certification,” says Mr. Gupta. “They also get to train in the new technologies and materials. As the technology we work with changes, we have to keep employees educated and certified. In relation to

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ISD BAHAMAS

the broader community, we also organise summer training every year for college students. We have 3 or 4 entrants and select one person for a scholarship with a commitment that they will come and work for us as an employee afterwards. We also financially support the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Bahamas Royal Police Force, especially with regards to

kit, uniforms, and supporting any officers injured in the line of duty.”

RAPID EXPANSION Thanks to their successes and many upcoming projects, ISD are set on expanding and transforming their surroundings with them.

“Certainly we have increased our business,” says Mr. Gupta. “We also just partnered

AVEM Water and Island Site Development have developed a strong partnership over the years.

The companies provide a collaborative effort that give developers, facility owners, and municipalities the power to complete projects on time and on budget. AVEM Water understands what it takes for a contractor like ISD to succeed. This understanding helps ISD consolidate their total supply chain, logistics support, and ongoing project support along with the surety that estimated project schedules will be met. AVEM Water has proven to ISD that they are the complete development product solution. Contact them to find out how they can do the same for you.

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ISD STRIVES TO ALIGN ITSELF WITH OTHER PROJECTS THAT PROVIDE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE TO THE BAHAMAS.

up with an investment firm called Stirling Global, who have secured investments in commercial and residential property. The Royal Caribbean cruise line port is being updated, and ISD are working on this project too, and we are implementing some MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) for buildings, infrastructure, and land development.

We are also working on Norman’s Cay which is a private, high-end residential development we have been working on since 2017.

We are looking at a few other projects that involve more real estate development too.”

One ongoing ISD project that is continuing to affect positive change is the Baha

Mar resort. “Over the last year we have been working on Baha Mar,” says Mr. Gupta.

“Since 2017 that project has made a good economic impact on the Bahamas and construction activities in general. We did most of the infrastructure, water features, and exterior MEP since the beginning of last year.

The project has four hotels, and three of them are already open for business. The final one will be open to the public sometime in March or April. Plus they have some future plans for possible extensions, which is good for the construction companies and will have a further positive economic impact on the Bahamas. ISD strives to align itself with other

projects that provide a sustainable future to the Bahamas and we are committed to providing the community with quality services within a safe working environment.” c

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SUPER VALUE

THE FAMILY THAT

FEEDS THE NATION Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Rupert Roberts, President and Founder of Super Value Food Stores Ltd, about buying Bahamian, healthy eating, and keeping prices low for the customer.

Rupert W. Roberts Jr., born May 28th, 1937, got his first job as a young man at City Markets, working as a clerk and typist

36 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

in a warehouse in Nassau. “That was the beginning of my career,” says Mr. Roberts, President and Founder of Super Value Food Stores Ltd. “I worked up through the accounting department.” By the age of 24, Mr. Roberts was the General Manager of City Markets. After five years in that position, familiarizing himself with the complexities of the groceries business, Mr. Roberts left to start his own small grocery store on East Street in April 1965. “That was Super Value,” says Mr. Roberts. “Which made City Markets my competitor.”

Quickly, Super Value grew through a series of acquisitions, and by 1967, there were four Super Value stores in New Providence.

Meanwhile, City Markets had developed some problems of their own. “First, they were sold to one company that didn’t do so well, and then they were sold to another company,” says Mr. Roberts. “Finally, there were four stores left.” In 2012, Super Value bought three of the City Markets stores, and renamed them Quality Supermarkets.

They also bought a store in Abaco called Maxwell’s. “That store is the largest and most modern supermarket in the Bahamas,” says Mr. Roberts. “We now have a chain of thirteen stores in New Providence, and we partner with five stores in Abaco, with my partner Chad Sawyer.” Today, Super Value and their affiliates employ over 500 people,

serving customers every day with a mission of ‘putting food on the Bahamian table at the best possible price’.

HEALTHY BAHAMAS Super Value’s staff are protected by a free medical plan. “It’s unheard of in the Bahamas,” says Mr. Roberts. “We’ve had many

unfortunate cases of cancer and heart surgery. It’s an ongoing job to keep a thousand staff well, but the medical plan is working very well. It also takes care of staff spouses, who may be unemployed. We try to extend this medical plan to our affiliated companies, as well. The staff are our most precious asset. You can take everything we have, all

our assets, but you leave me the staff, and I’ll be back in business in 24 hours.”

This focus on health extends to Super Value’s customers. “We’re really trying to direct the public into healthy eating,” says Mr. Roberts. “We changed government in the Bahamas last May, and the new government is setting out to scrap the old price controls

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SUPER VALUE

on breadbasket items, which were set nearly fifty years ago on some of the lowest-price food with no regard for health at all. The new government wants to replace that with healthy food, which we support. Over the last few years, we completely remodelled our produce department, doubling the refrigeration space. In the last five years, we had a 30% increase in total sales, but a 50% increase in fruit and vegetable sales. I think Bahamians, like people the world over, are becoming more health-conscious and eating

38 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

healthier, so we’re supporting that, and it’s driving sales.”

SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS Super Value works closely with suppliers to ensure Bahamians can shop for food at the best possible price. “We also support ‘Buy Bahamian’,” says Mr. Roberts. “That means locally grown, locally produced, locally manufactured. Our water is produced locally. We support local fruits and vegetables when they’re in season. We work with

the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that our price mission isn’t in conflict with Buy Bahamian, so we say: ‘We’re paying $20 for imported, so we need the local growers to come in as close to $20 as possible.’ We’ve also helped some of the local growers export. That’s things like onions and papayas and so on. We arrange for our suppliers to take them, to distribute Bahamian produce all over Florida and the Caribbean.”

To improve costs, the Maxwell’s Supermarket on Abaco recently installed solar

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SUPER VALUE

PV panels on the roof to help counteract expensive electricity bills. “Electricity’s more expensive in the Family Islands than in Nassau,” says Mr. Roberts. “So two years ago, we went solar. My partner over there, Chad Sawyer, is a distant relative.” The PV panels on the Maxwell’s Supermarket roof supply 25% of the store’s power.

Super Value also owns a company which produces tissue, reducing the cost to the Bahamian consumer. “We bring in 12-foot rolls, and manufacture toilet tissue, paper towels, et cetera,” says Mr. Roberts. “That factory

is centrally located in New Providence. We sell both to our own supermarkets, but also the competition. While the giant rolls we manufacture from are currently imported, eventually, we’d like to see paper and newspapers being recycled and use that. This would create jobs, and of course it protects the environment and stops your resources from being destroyed.”

COMMUNITY VALUES As fixtures of the local community, Super Value and their affiliated companies are

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deeply involved in various charities. The Big Harvest Community Sunday School is an NGO in Woods Alley, New Providence, serving five hundred underprivileged children. “The Big Harvest Community Sunday School program is one of my favorite charities,” says Mr. Roberts. “We’re big supporters; it’s the greatest social and spiritual program I’m aware of here. It’s run by the former Commissioner of Police and his family, who do great work. The Sunday school is located in probably the poorest economic area in the island, but those pupils don’t

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SUPER VALUE

allow any crime in their neighborhood. We provide the cakes and the attractions to get them in. We’re trying to get three or four off the ground across the island now; we’re just trying to find dedicated families to run them.”

Super Value also supports the Erin H. Gilmour School for Blind and Visually Impaired Children. “To be self-supporting,

they manufacture brooms and mops, and sell them locally,” says Mr. Roberts. “We support them when they need us, or when they have product to sell. It’s a fine product, and the public love to support it.”

Mr. Roberts attributes Super Value’s ongoing success to three factors. “In the retail business, we consider our triangle of success to be our customers, our staff,

and our suppliers,” says Mr. Roberts.

“If you don’t have customers, you don’t need staff; and if you don’t have good relationships with your suppliers, you won’t have any customers. They call us ‘the family that feeds the nation’. We just focus on our core mission: To keep putting food on the Bahamian table at the best possible price.” c

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VIRGIN ISLANDS NEXT GENERATION NETWORK

VINGN FOCUS ON EMPOWERING PEOPLE IN THE ISLANDS THROUGH HELPING THEM UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INTERNET.

CONNECTING COMMUNITIES IN THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Dr. Mark McGibbon, CEO at Virgin Islands Next Generation Network, and Ken Farrington, Procurement Director, about ‘middle mile’ broadband infrastructure, fostering digital literacy and digital equity, and being stewards of the community.

VINGN PRESIDENT & CEO DR. H. MARK MCGIBBON.

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“On 30th June 2014 the U.S. Virgin Islands were ranked last out of all U.S. states and territories for broadband access,” says Dr. Mark McGibbon, CEO of Virgin Islands Next Generation Network. “That was also about the same time viNGN had its first customer.

Back in 2014, one megabit (Mb) was being sold for $100. Today that $100 is going to get you 25Mb. It’s still expensive but it’s a

huge difference, and we’ve managed to do that in just three and a half years.”

Virgin Islands Next Generation Network (viNGN) is a subsidiary of the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority, with a mandate to provide the ‘middle mile’ infrastructure to the U.S. Virgin Islands that makes broadband access possible (as opposed to ‘final mile’ broadband, connecting home and

the internet service providers (ISPs) connect.

The ISPs then build out from there, building the last mile to people’s homes, businesses, and government organizations.”

PUBLIC SERVICE viNGN was formed as a result of federal grants created by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, under the Obama administration. “The Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program was awarded for all the U.S. states and territories with the specific goal of improving U.S. broadband capabilities,” says Ken Farrington, Property and Procurement Director at viNGN. “Four grants were given, the main one being the Comprehensive Community Infrastructure grant that for viNGN was about $58.8M. This grant let us establish the race track fiber optic cables. One of our biggest focuses during the implementation of the grant was using local contractors and local employees.”

The fledgling company also received the Sustainable Broadband Adoption grant, for improving computer and internet litera-

cy. “This grant was specifically for improving local people’s internet capabilities, from the basics to people actually creating jobs and entrepreneurship through the use of internet,” says Mr. Farrington. “We co-ordinate with small businesses, have seminars, and provide free courses online. The viNGN focus is on empowering people in the islands through helping them understand the importance of the internet and what it means in an ever-changing market.”

Another grant went towards creating public computer centers, which enable access to computers and the internet for people or communities unable to afford

CLOSE-UP OF FIBER OPTIC CABLE AT A FACILITY ACCESS POINT (FAP).

FIBER OPTIC REPAIRS IN THE FIELD ON THE ISLAND OF ST. CROIX.

business users to the internet). “We have undersea water cables coming from Florida and New York state,” Dr. McGibbon says.

“These cables come up into the islands of St. John, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and Water Island. Each one carries up to 10 gigabits (Gb) of bandwidth and we have ensured to build in plenty of redundancy into the system. Imagine the cables looping around each one of those islands like a big race track – that’s the middle mile. Then we have little ‘tool sheds’, inside of which are servers. We have multiple sheds dispersed throughout the island and those are where SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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VIRGIN ISLANDS NEXT GENERATION NETWORK VINGN NETWORK TECHNICIAN KEVIN MAYNARD OVERSEES STUDENTS AT HOUR OF CODE EVENT AT CENTRAL SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH PUBLIC COMPUTER CENTER (PCC) ON ST. CROIX.

VINGN FIBER BEING BROUGHT ASHORE DURING INFRASTRUCTURE BUILDOUT.

their own equipment. These are set up in what the company calls ‘community anchor institutions’, including senior citizens’ homes, public libraries, boys’ and girls’ clubs, and other hubs serving the community.

ONLINE BUSINESS The lifespan for all of the grants is now up, but viNGN continues to pursue its original aims. “Since those grants have closed, we’ve naturally focused on being a business working towards the benefit of the territory,” says Mr. Farrington. “That’s why our prices

Bonneville Group Virgin Islands, Inc.

are cost effective and our last mile partners can provide services at a fraction of the cost of competitors.”

One initiative that has been developed by viNGN after the closure of the grants is its mobile training centers. Headed up by Anita Davis, this program has had major impacts on the islands under viNGN’s remit. “Ms. Davis takes 10 Chromebooks out into the field with her and trains people across all of our islands,” says Dr. McGibbon. “If a business or school wants training, they call us up. They don’t have

PO Box 301975, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas USVI 00803 Tel. 340-776-2484 PO Box 3680, Kingshill Station, St. Croix, USVI 00851 Tel. 340-718-2274 For more information, please visit our website www.bonnevillepr.net

46 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

to go to the public computing centers.

If they don’t have computers at a certain location, Ms. Davis goes out there with our Chromebooks and starts training them on the spot. With the education we provide, the standard of digital literacy has been raised and as a result it’s really changed the landscape of the economy.”

“There’s a lot of online businesses here now that simply weren’t possible before,” explains Dr. McGibbon. “I go online and see people selling artwork, people ordering food, business advertising, all sorts. There

FIBER OPTIC REPAIRS TO CABLES INSIDE A SPLICE CLOSURE, OR “CAN”, ON ST. THOMAS.

are people going to school online now.

There are a number of universities besides the University of the Virgin Islands that are advertising online classes to get your MA in business admin on the radio.

That’s significant, and it’s because we’re training the population.”

FUTURE RESILIENCE Looking towards the future, viNGN has a number of plans for strengthening its already important business. “We have 33 public computing centers but at present only 12 of them

are running because of two hurricanes that hit the islands,” explains Dr. McGibbon. “Looking at infrastructure resiliency, it is clear that we need to get more of our cables underground. During the hurricanes, 100% of the lines that were underground survived; 90% of the lines on telephone poles were destroyed.

We sustained millions of dollars of damage.

The U.S. Virgin Islands have some very steep mountainous, hilly areas, and a lot of bedrock, so there are some areas where our fiber has to go up telephone poles. Where we can go underground, though, we want to go

VINGN PCC MANAGER ANITA DAVIS AND ACCOUNT ACTIVATION/PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER PAMELA FINLEY AT A DIGITAL LEARNING DAY EVENT AT TURNBULL REGIONAL LIBRARY PUBLIC COMPUTER CENTER (PCC) ON ST. THOMAS.

underground. That’s the future for building in resiliency against natural disasters.”

“We are also looking at revamping our public computing centers before they reopen,” says Dr. McGibbon. “I will be sitting down with Ms. Davis to address this issue.

How do we revamp them and bring in new technology? We want to bring those centers back up to speed to offer communities the best possible services. viNGN is all about teaming. It’s about helping the community.

We live here so we try to be the best stewards to the community we can be.” c UNDERGROUND FIBER OPTIC DISTRIBUTION.

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EDGECHEM JAMAICA

AS A PROUDLY JAMAICAN COMPANY, EDGECHEM ARE VERY AWARE OF THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES TO STAFF, THE COMMUNITY, AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.

JAMAICAN PAINTS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET MELISSA MCHARGH, GENERAL MANAGER, EDGECHEM JAMAICA.

Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Melissa McHargh, General Manager at EdgeChem, about new facilities, the export market, and investing in the community.

EdgeChem is a wholly Jamaican-owned paint manufacturer and distributor based in Kingston. Founded in 1990, EdgeChem initially manufactured furniture finishes, subsequently developing product lines for automotive and industrial applications. In 2005, the devastating results of a major hurricane passing through Jamaica saw sales plummet, and, following an investigation, EdgeChem found that the moist air after

48 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

hurricanes was preventing paint from sticking properly to car bodies. As a stabilizing measure, the company developed a line of decorative finishes, to provide a consistent stream of income which wouldn’t be affected by atmospheric conditions.

Unexpectedly, these new products took on a life of their own. With people needing to rebuild and redecorate their homes throughout Jamaica, EdgeChem experi-

“We consolidated one of our external warehouses into new admin facilities, moving out of our 30,000 square foot warehouse facility into a brand new 50,000 square foot facility with an additional 35,000 square feet of warehousing space.”

EdgeChem are also updating their old machinery. “We’ve just purchased a new sandbasket for 80,000 euros,” says Ms. McHargh. “That was just installed a few weeks ago. It will be crucial in increasing production of automotive and industrial paints. It’s also given us additional floorspace for the expansion of our quality control and research and development labs, which we have already completed.”

enced five years of rapid growth, and began to implement major infrastructural changes to increase decorative paint capacity. Today, EdgeChem is the only exclusively Jamaican-owned paint manufacturer which offers a complete line of products, and the company exports throughout the Caribbean. (To read more about EdgeChem’s sustainable origin story, see Sustainable Business Magazine issue 03/17.)

EXPANDING BENEFITS These newly built and expanded facilities will deliver benefits for EdgeChem’s customers: “We have added a few more products to our line of products, and in fact we have proper plans to launch them in

the next few months,” says Ms. McHargh.

“They will increase our decorative offerings to the market. As time goes by, we’ll add different lines to various product groups as well. We’ve added some new undercoats to our automotive line, for example, which are fillers for automotive applications. We’re also looking at improving our industrial finishes with some epoxy primers. Currently we do light industrial finishes, but we are now looking at the medium to heavy market now. We have about four new products that will come to market in the next couple of months. It also gives our customers a better environment. EdgeChem does a bit of retailing from its head office location and our customers now have a much nicer lobby to sit in while their paint is being mixed and everything is being processed.”

It’s not only customers, however, who will benefit from EdgeChem’s expansion. “The expansion has also been great news for the staff as well,” says Ms. McHargh. “We were

NEW CAPACITY In 2017, last time Sustainable Business Magazine spoke to EdgeChem, the company was preparing to expand their line of products. Now, the company has already moved into new premises and trade is booming.

“We’re currently retrofitting our old facilities to expand our factory operations for capacity building, and to meet the sales expansion we’re targeting,” says Melissa McHargh, General Manager at EdgeChem Jamaica.

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EDGECHEM JAMAICA

literally falling over each other in our old facility. Our offices were cramped because of the legal requirements for paper storage of files, meaning storage boxes were taking over. The change encouraged us to streamline the administrative infrastructure, minimizing the amount of paper we needed.

Combined with our newer, bigger facilities, our staff have much more room to work.

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When people come into an office and there are boxes of papers everywhere they don’t feel like they're working in an environment they’d love to come into. Coming into a cubicle that is organized and spacious makes you feel prouder. That is a huge benefit to our staff and we've already seen productivity increase because of it. This has been a real morale boost for the people working here.”

MOVING OVERSEAS Another big change has been the growth of EdgeChem’s export market, which has outstripped the company’s expectations.

“We’ve now launched and are operating in Haiti,” says Ms. McHargh. “We always knew Haiti was a very large market but didn’t expect just how lucrative it would be. EdgeChem was lucky enough to find a very good partner to work with in Haiti, one who has been able to move products and get us off the ground. It is predominantly automotive paints distributing via Sunauto. It's going very well and surpassed the goals we've set for ourselves in that market.”

Other new markets for EdgeChem include the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, and Guyana. “I’ve just returned from a trip to Guyana where we’ve just entered into partnership with a local company to carry our full suite of products,” says Ms. McHargh. “Additionally, we are about to re-enter the Trinidadian market. Perhaps most excitingly, though, we are now in south Florida in the United States. Through our distributor we’ve been servicing about six locations now. It’s required a lot of in-

vestment, because when we enter a market we also provide a whole suite of services and staff local to the market to answer any queries. However, it’s been a huge success.

We’re actually tempering our expansion now because we don’t want to grow too quickly then not be able to support it.”

COMMUNITIES AND EMPLOYEES As a proudly Jamaican company, EdgeChem are very aware of their responsibilities to staff, the community, and the natural environment. Their new buildings are located just across the road from their old buildings, which meant the company wasn’t expanding into untouched green areas. Local authorities also conduct regular, randomized checks on the discharges created by EdgeChem’s factories to ensure the company remains compliant with all regulations.

Supporting the community is also an important aspect of EdgeChem’s social responsibility strategy. “We have a strategy supporting a number of smaller, basic schools in the community with a back-toschool program,” says Ms. McHargh. “We purchase books for students yearly and, during Christmas, we run events for children in inner city communities. It means they can have a good meal, entertainment, and fun.

Also, during our Labor Day period, we may choose two projects to physically work on as a company. At this time our staff actually go out and undertake voluntary work. Plus this year we funded over 120 projects with donations of paint, ranging from a donation of two gallons up to 50 gallons of paint.”

EdgeChem have used their new expansion to invest in the physical health of employees, building a new gymnasium

and bringing in trainers every day of the week. “We have about 70% participation in our gym program,” explains Ms. McHargh.

“We’re finding our employees are a lot healthier. They’ve lost some weight and are a lot more active. We believe a happy, healthy workforce is good for the workplace.”

Looking forwards, EdgeChem plan to continue investing in the things that have already resulted in success. “The biggest thing for us now is of course finishing up expansion of our production facility,” says Ms. McHargh. “After that, we will turn on the export market and push that as far as we can.

We’re focused on growing our sales and continuing to maintain the best practices that are already a fundamental part of the company.

We’re a proud Jamaican company, and we intend to continue growing for the benefit of our customers, our staff, and the country.” c

• Plumbing • Electrical • Domestic Hardware & More!

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CARIBBEAN FLAVOURS & FRAGRANCES

JAMAICAN SUCCESS STORY

Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Derrick Cotterell, Managing Director at Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances, about growing exports, working with Jamaican agriculture, and giving back to the local community.

Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances are one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of flavors for the beverage, baking, confectionery, and pharmaceutical 52 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

industries. Based in Kingston, Jamaica, Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances provide high quality products for international distribution, with a commitment to developing the

Jamaican agricultural sector and supporting the local community. Most recently, the company has been growing exports, bringing vital foreign exchange into Jamaica.

FIVE-YEAR PLAN Mr. Cotterell’s company, Derrimon Trading Company Limited, became the majority shareholder in Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances in 2014. Derrimon Trading is a wholesaler, distributor, and retailer of food and household products, with seven outlets across Jamaica. “It was a seamless transition and Mr. James still sits on the board as a consultant to the company,” says Mr. Cotterell. “This has all been entirely positive and a real success story for everyone involved.

We have recently created our Five-Year Plan to grow our share of the market. As part of this plan, we will expand our flavors for savory products and dairy, moving beyond the beverage market. We have also been taking

“Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances itself is exactly seventeen years old,” says Derrick Cotterell, Managing Director at Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances. “But we are actually coming out from an older company called Bush Boake Allen, which is well over 60 years old. Initially it was Bush Boake Allen who came to Jamaica and set up a plant here to supply flavors for the soft drinks market. They eventually sold parts of the company, but the Jamaican portion was sold to Anand James, who was General Manager at the time and still works with the company as a consultant and is a key member of the board of directors. He renamed it Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances.

So while in our current form the company is just seventeen years old, our direct lineage stretches all the way back to approximately 85 years ago.”

steps to get involved in the extraction of oils and oily resins. This involves using Jamaican products to extract oils and resins that we can then use to supply the flavors market.

We also currently have some exports to countries like the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, and Grenada. We would like to increase the quantity of our exports to those countries, and also expand into other areas and other countries. In short, we aim to continue to emphasize our successes and expand even further.”

AGRICULTURAL ALLIES In addition to expanding their share of the international marketplace, Caribbean

DERRICK COTTERELL, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT CARIBBEAN FLAVOURS & FRAGRANCES ATTENDING A TRADE SHOW.

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CARIBBEAN FLAVOURS & FRAGRANCES BOARD OF DIRECTORS L – R. ANAND JAMES, DERRICK COTTERELL, IAN KELLY, CLIVE NICOLAS, CARLTON SAMUELS, TANIA WALDRON-GOODEN

DERRICK COTTERELL, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT CARIBBEAN FLAVOURS & FRAGRANCES.

Flavours & Fragrances continue to prioritize Jamaican products through the choice and sourcing of local ingredients and flavors.

“We are making some products that are very unique and specific to Jamaica,” says Mr. Cotterell. “For example, we produce our ginger flavor with Jamaican ginger, and are working on other local options such as Jamaican sorrel (hibiscus). We choose Jamaican coffee and ginger flavors that are not like any other products on the market.

Specifically, some of the beverage flavors

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that we produce, like the ginger beer, cola, banana, pineapple, and others are totally unique to Jamaica, in addition to having international appeal. The raw materials used in our products are very natural, and we work with local and indigenous farmers to produce those materials. We sometimes buy some of the more generic items from overseas, but for components like ginger we always use Jamaican farmers.”

Since the company was still named Bush Boake Allen, Caribbean Flavours &

Fragrances has been involved in contract farming. “This was with Jamaican farmers and we even built a plant for extracting the ginger ourselves,” explains Mr. Cotterell.

“A few years ago there was a disease that caused some issues with Jamaican ginger, so currently we are working very closely with farmers to rebuild that stock, improving technology and greenhouses, and that kind of thing. In order to be sustainable, we need to work very closely with the people creating the raw materials and assist them in devel-

LABORATORY AT CARIBBEAN FLAVOURS & FRAGRANCES. RHONDE MCPHERSON - QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGER.

oping better growing methods. This is in order to increase the overall yield, but also to ensure that the materials remain disease free and pest resistant, so we are actively encouraging scientific best practices and adherence to Organic standards.”

EFFICIENCY & SUSTAINABILITY Central to the Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances Five-Year Plan is investing to remain on the cutting-edge. “We have a factory where we create our flavors, and we are continuing to upgrade everything there,” says Mr. Cotterell. “This is to make sure it remains at the very top standard. We will continue to upgrade and keep pace with the latest technology, which is also part of our Five-Year Plan. We spend a lot of time on quality, ensuring that our customers get the best quality product that we can provide and that we are able to provide it consistently. We have a lab with brand new state-of-the-art equipment, which is where we work on our beverages.

This happened as part of the Derrimon takeover in 2014. With this equipment, we

are able to do tests in-house which we could not do before, get more accurate testing, and overall increase our speed and efficiency. The end result is ultimately maintaining and even improving the quality of our products.”

GIVING BACK Something else important to Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances is the idea of community, particularly younger people in the Kingston area. “We are extremely focused on children and education, particularly early childhood education,” says Mr. Cotterell. “We have adopted a school near to our plant on Spanish Road in Kingston, and we do many projects with them, upgrading their bathroom and kitchen facilities and providing them with equipment. We also spend time with the children, and our relationship with the school is a big part of our community outreach. Along with this, we support football and basketball programs, and we fund kids who want to go to university. We also provide employment through internships at Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances, and our

interns are selected primarily from the local university, so we can give them workplace experience as they are studying.”

“The company has been doing very well,” explains Mr. Cotterell. “So we have increased the quality of training provided to our staff, and this in turn increases our success and profitability. We have a very highly trained team here, and have won several awards from the Jamaican Manufacturing Association, three times in four years. We have also received nominations for Nation Builder awards, which are organized by the National Commercial Bank, who look for people making contributions to the social and economic infrastructure of Jamaica. The company is here for good and we are very dedicated to sustainability.

Our success is thanks to our staff and local community, and with each success we are able to feed back into those areas. We will continue to improve and provide our customers with the highest quality at all times.

We are proud to be a world class, dedicated Jamaican company.” c SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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GLOBAL EVENTS

NOV 2018

5th - 6th

US Biogas 2018 San Diego, CA, USA

Utilize policy drivers, secure financial support for development and maximize commercial gains from your operational projects. Join over 200 biogas and RNG experts at the 2018 conference to learn how to develop profitable biogas projects using a variety of feedstocks and project configurations.

IEEE REPE 2018 Toronto, ON, Canada

The aim of REPE 2018 is to provide a platform for researchers, engineers, academicians as well as industrial professionals from all over the world to present their research results and development activities in Renewable Energy and Power Engineering.

events.newenergyupdate.com

24th - 26th

www.repe.net

This conference provides opportunities for the delegates to exchange new ideas and application experiences face to face, to establish business or research relations and to find global partners for future collaboration.

4th - 6th

Power-Gen International Orlando, FL, USA www.power-gen.com

JAN 2019

Exhibit at the world’s LARGEST power generation event We’re a 30-yearstrong power generation event with diverse content for all forms of energy - with a multi-track summit and knowledge hubs, a huge exhibition with 900+ companies and comprehensive networking and matchmaking. The topics and trends focus on technology, innovation, and policy and will present unmatched insight on the future of electricity generation, including the balance between traditional and renewable sources.

DEC 2018

21st - 24th

National Biodiesel Conference & Expo San Diego, CA, USA www.biodieselconference.org

The National Biodiesel Conference & Expo attendance continues to attract the very best in the biodiesel industry.

NBD wants to assist in your efforts to network, connect and learn. We believe these additions and changes to the program will create boundless networking opportunities and allow you to meet new people with some of the same biodiesel interests.

23th - 24th

The Energy Expo 2019 Miami, FL, USA

Presenting equipment, technologies, products and know-how for the solar, energy storage, energy efficiency, clean transportation and smart buildings industries.

www.theenergyexpo.com

The effective commercial hub between North American and worldwide manufacturers and distributors with buyers, professionals, dealers, operators, contractors and potential reps from Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States. 40+ countries under one roof.

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ADVERTISERS INDEX A A&A Wholesale P42 Aquapure P42 Avem Water P33 Axsus / Magna P21 B Bahamas Rum Cake Factory Ballard Truck Center Bonneville Contracting and Technology Group, LLC

P40 P11 P46

C Carbon Zero Initiative of Trinidad and Tobago (CZITT) Inside Front Caribbean Bottling Company P42 Carrier P09 Climate Engineering Companies P09 D Dundas Power Line Ltd. E Energy Expo

P21

Back Cover

H Hardware Station Hardware & Lumber Ltd. Hollen Controls Ltd

P51 P50 P21

I Island Dairy Island Wholesale

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J J & S Steel Jamaica Stock Exchange

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M Marshall & Sterling Meritor, Inc. Milo Butler

P46 P10 P41

O Orbcomm P08 P Palfinger Liftgates LLC Purity Bakery Ltd.

Q Quality Star Auto

P31

R Royal Fence

P21

S SAF-Holland, Inc Shoreline Distributors Spark Power Corp STW Technic

P10 P42 P23 P26

T Tulloch Engineering

P21

V Volvo Trucks

P10

W Water Expo 2019 World Electric Supply

Back Cover P34

P13 P38

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MARK YOUR CALENDAR for these 2 outstanding events in MIAMI, The America’s Business Capital.

Where manufacturers & distributors CONNECT BIG with Latin American, Caribbean & United States HUGE MARKETS 40 countries under one roof!

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