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Latin America & Caribbean / Island & remote community

Over Yonder Cay Minigrid

Current status, energy mix, organizations, suppliers, equipment, controls, reported specifications, and project updates—with source-level citations.

CoverageDetailed public record
Named organizations5
System facts22
Sources reviewed6
Evidence reviewed2026-07-20

Over Yonder Cay is a private-island resort microgrid in the Exumas, Bahamas. The currently described system combines 720 kW DC of photovoltaics, three Northern Power Systems NPS 100-21 wind turbines totaling 300 kW, a 6 MWh battery bank, two parallel 300 kVA bidirectional multiport inverters and three 250 kW Caterpillar diesel generators. The resort reports 96% renewable energy, using predictive controls to dispatch generation, storage and flexible loads such as desalination and thermal uses. The plant evolved materially from its initial 2010-13 configuration, so the recovered catalog's 375 kW solar capacity describes an earlier phase, not the current owner-listed array.

Research status
The resort and its renewable system remain actively presented by the owner, which reports 96% renewable supply and rare diesel operation. Initial commissioning occurred in April 2010, the first two wind turbines followed in October 2010, and a third was added in 2011; the solar and storage plant was later expanded to 720 kW DC and 6 MWh. Current performance is owner-reported rather than independently audited, and no public annual generation, fuel-use, battery-health or outage dataset through July 2026 was found. Battery chemistry, manufacturer and replacement history remain undisclosed.
Historical classification
Island
Reported capacity
2 MW
Coordinates
24.22577, -76.47875
Evidence note: “Every company” cannot be proven from public material alone. This page lists every organization found in the recovered record and reviewed sources, preserves unknown roles, and explicitly marks undisclosed controller or equipment details.
Report missing evidenceResearch methodology

Project delivery

Who was involved in Over Yonder Cay Minigrid?

5 publicly identified organizations. Where a recovered source named a participant without explaining its work, the role remains explicitly unspecified.

Organization

Caterpillar

Manufacturer of the three 3306 diesel generator sets identified in the owner's current equipment listing. [2]

Organization

Northern Power Systems

Manufacturer of the three NPS 100-21 wind turbines and source for the wind deployment timeline and early system configuration. [6][2]

Organization

Optimal Power Solutions

Designed, supplied and commissioned the original hybrid power system, including Hybrid Power Conditioner inverters and supervisory controls. [5]

Organization

Over Yonder Cay

Private-island resort owner/operator and current source for the installed renewable, battery, diesel and control architecture. [2][3][4]

Organization

Scientific Research and Development / Ed Bosarge

Owner-side technical organization/lead associated with developing the predictive optimization and renewable-island concept. [4]

System evidence

Energy mix, capacity, and specifications

Values can describe different project phases, generation sources, storage systems, or other components. Source citations are attached to each figure so discrepancies remain visible.

KW Solar
375 [1]
KW Wind
300 [1]
Storage
Battery [1]
Current photovoltaic capacity
720 kW DC at standard test conditions, described elsewhere by the owner as 720 kWp and about 2,300 panels. DC output passes through a 750 kW maximum-power-point-tracking stage to the battery system. [2][3]
Wind capacity
300 kW total from 3 x 100 kW Northern Power Systems NPS 100-21 turbines. [2][6]
Battery energy storage
6 MWh, described by the owner as approximately two days of autonomy. A battery power rating, chemistry and usable-energy basis were not disclosed. [2][6]
Bidirectional inverter capacity
2 x 300 kVA parallel multiport inverters, totaling 600 kVA apparent power. [2]
Current diesel backup
3 x 250 kW Caterpillar 3306 generators, totaling 750 kW. Northern Power's older case study cited 400 kW of backup generation; the values reflect different project phases and are not additive. [2][6]
Current renewable share
96% of energy according to the resort owner, with diesel used only rarely. No independent audited time series was found. [3]
Earlier configurations
Optimal Power Solutions describes an early 2.16 MWh battery, while Northern Power's 2013 case describes 375 kW PV and 6 MWh battery. These document staged expansion to the owner's current 720 kW PV/6 MWh configuration. [5][6][2]

Controls and hardware

Equipment and controller details

Manufacturer and model are shown only when a source names them. Generic descriptions are not converted into guessed product assignments.

01

Wind turbines

Northern Power Systems — NPS 100-21

Three 100 kW direct-drive, variable-speed, stall-controlled turbines with full power converters. [2][6]

02

Diesel generator sets

Caterpillar — 3306

Three 250 kW backup generators in the current owner listing. [2]

03

Hybrid power conditioners

Optimal Power Solutions — Hybrid Power Conditioner

Bidirectional conversion/control equipment supplied in the original system; the current owner lists two 300 kVA parallel multiport inverters but does not explicitly identify their current manufacturer or model. [5][2]

04

Battery bank

Model not publicly disclosed

6 MWh storage providing roughly two days of owner-stated autonomy. Manufacturer, model, chemistry, nominal DC voltage, replacement date and state of health were not found. [2]

05

Weather station

Davis Instruments — Vantage Pro2 Plus

Provides on-island weather measurements for operating awareness and predictive control. [2]

06

Supervisory controller

Model not publicly disclosed

A compact rack-mounted intelligent controller and SCADA system forecast weather, demand and battery state, dispatch generators/flexible loads, archive data and support simulation. No current commercial product name was disclosed. [2][4]

Technical record

Architecture, performance, and project updates

Concise technical facts, milestones, operating results, and later developments. Dated notes distinguish historical design claims from current evidence.

  • Architecture

    Solar DC power is coupled through a 750 kW MPPT stage toward the central battery/inverter system; wind and diesel feed the island electrical network, while two bidirectional multiport inverters regulate power exchange with storage. Automated controls coordinate firm, variable and deferrable resources. [2][4]

  • Flexible loads

    When renewable production exceeds immediate electrical needs, controls route energy to desalination/water production, pool or water heating and other schedulable loads, reducing curtailment and diesel starts. [3][4]

  • Distribution-unit ambiguity

    The owner's technical page literally calls the island network a '13.2 kVA distribution loop' connected through 480 VAC transformers. Because kVA is not a voltage rating and no corroborating one-line diagram was found, the likely intended 13.2 kV interpretation is not silently substituted. [2]

  • Timeline

    Optimal Power Solutions commissioned the initial system in April 2010. The first two wind turbines were installed in October 2010, a third was added in 2011, and the wind fleet passed 1 million kWh of cumulative generation by mid-2013. Solar and storage ratings in later owner material show subsequent expansion. [5][6][2]

  • Resilience

    Northern Power reports that the turbines survived Hurricane Irene in 2011. The owner's six-megawatt-hour battery is described as roughly two days of autonomy, but public sources do not give the load basis, critical-load fraction or tested black-start sequence behind that claim. [6][2]

  • Economics and evidence gap

    The original vendor described an approximately US$6 million project with a projected five-to-six-year payback. No public source reviewed provides realized payback, current operating cost, annual fuel savings, battery degradation or independently verified 96% renewable performance. [5][3]

Provenance

6 sources

Primary owner, government, university, supplier, and engineering sources are preferred. Archived references preserve claims whose original pages moved or disappeared.

  1. [1]
    Recovered Microgrid Projects record

    Internet Archive · Archived source · captured 2020-07-06

  2. [2]
  3. [3]
    Sustainability

    Over Yonder Cay · Primary source

  4. [4]
    Sustainability Background

    Over Yonder Cay · Primary source

  5. [5]
  6. [6]
    Innovative Renewable Energy Island Resort

    Northern Power Systems · Primary source

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