Written by Clifford Stanley
WORK is to commence on the installation of two large solar power systems at the Region 1 (Barima/Waini) village of Kanuballi early next week.The project is being undertaken by the local company Farfan and Mendes and should last two weeks at the end of which a total of 1820 watts of electrical power will be made available to the community.

The Kanuballi project is a Government of Guyana (GOG) /United Nations Development Program (UNDP) being jointly funded to the tune of $6.1M under a programme entitled “Energy Access at the Community Level for Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Achievement in Hinterland Areas”.
The implementation is being managed by the Hinterland Electrification Unit (HEU) of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) with technical support from the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), and logistical support from the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs.
The contractor will install a 1040W solar panel along with eight 15W compact fluorescent lamps for lighting, and two duplex power outlets for powering audio and video equipment (TV, DVD player and radio) to aid learning at the primary school.
This solar power panel will be used to provide power to an energy-efficient, 8 cubic-feet solar freezer for the storage of meat and vegetables for the school feeding programme.
The contractor will install another panel which has an output of 780W along with eight 15W compact fluorescent lamps for lighting, and two duplex power outlets for powering a refrigerator for the storage of vaccines and other medications, and for powering other devices when necessary at the health centre.
The project will also provide at least five solar cookers to the community to complement the wood-burning stoves at the school and for use at the health clinic for boiling water, etc.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the HEU, Mr. Horace Williams said that a team from the HEU will train five persons (including at least two women) from the village and provide them with a tool kit to maintain the solar PV systems.
The project also includes the construction of three energy-efficient, wood-burning stoves to be used for cooking meals for the school feeding programme.
Residents will be shown how to construct these stoves and encouraged to use them.
A source close to the project said that the Kanuballi project is one of many planned under the energy access in hinterland areas project.
“Access to modern energy services by these communities is essential to Guyana’s ongoing efforts to meet the MDGs, as it has been established that improved energy services are necessary to achieving all of the MDGs,” the source disclosed.
The overall aim of this GOG/UNDP project is to provide energy access at the community level to all hinterland communities by 2015.
The Kanuballi project is a pilot project and implementation is expected to provide valuable lessons for executing similar community-level energy access projects in other hinterland communities in the future, Williams said.