…Opposition Leader says power company must generate new power in the grid
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) would usually attribute extended power outages to line maintenance, something that rarely provides comfort for the populace. But according to Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, the GPL must find a way to generate new power in the grid… and fast.
GPL ended 2017 with total combined losses of 29.5 per cent, which is a marginal increase from last year; 12.9 per cent technical and 14.7 per cent non-technical. Jagdeo urged the company to expand its short-term objectives beyond maintaining transmission and distribution mains.
“We’ve always had commercial and technical losses,” Jagdeo said. “When we got into office, it was over 40 per cent, then it fell to 20 per cent. That is people stealing power, and the line losses because of old lines.
“But they are not going to make any big change in that. You’re not going to save the equal amount from offsetting growth in demand by (only) tackling the transmission and distribution mains. So you have to have – now — short-term, new generating capacity. You have to do that now.”
The fact that GPL is without a board did not escape the former President’s attention. Jagdeo noted that while GPL is raking in billions in revenue, this is being done while the entity does not have a board of directors. Appointing a board, he noted, is not a time consuming exercise, yet Government has failed to appoint one since January of 2018.
Renewable energy
Government has embarked on a number of renewable energy projects centred on wind, hydro and solar.
However, none of these projects has an individual generating capacity that could rival the 165 megawatts the Amaila Falls Hydro Power (AFHP) project would have brought.
One project on which Government has embarked is the Hope Wind Farm, which has faced criticism centred on the actual investor. One of the investors in question is International Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA) proprietor Lloyd Singh, who has been identified as being responsible for the acquisition of the headquarters of the Alliance for Change (AFC). According to Patterson, there have been some technical issues — such as the size of the development — which had to be ironed out; but there has been progress on that front, and the process of finalising the power purchase agreement is ongoing.
Patterson also spoke of a US$3.8 million solar farm funded by the Inter-American Development Bank, which will be constructed at Bartica. According to the Minister, this will be completed by the end of 2018.
Meanwhile, the update on the Tumatumari hydro project is that the private developer has been given a deadline to reach financial closure with investors; that is, when all agreements have been signed and conditions met, in order to allow the dispensing of funds.
The update on the Kato hydropower project was a more positive one. According to Patterson, funding has been secured for the US$2 million project, and work will commence when weather permits.
He also spoke of securing funding from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) for Photo Voltaic (PV) farms at Port Kaituma (US$1.8 million), Kwakwani (US$2.6 million), and Matthews Ridge (US$2 million).
“So, by the end of 2018, we would have installed about five megawatts of renewable energy. And that’s a commendable feat, coming from 2015 with zero,” Patterson has boasted. “And then, by the end of 2020, when all these projects would have been completed, there would be 29 or 30 megawatts.”
