IN order to add power to the Mabaruma’s energy grid, government will proceed with the construction and operation of a 20kW hydropower facility at Hosororo, Region One, which will supply energy to the Mabaruma Power Company.
According to the Official Gazette of September 1, 2018, an application was made for a Hydro-Electric Power Licence.
The company applying is the Hinterland Electrification Company Inc/Mabaruma Power Company. The application was made since May 11th, 2017.
The offices of the companies are located at the Wight’s Lane compound of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, which is also in charge of the electricity sector.
“Any person(s) may within twenty-one (21) days of the first publication of this notice, lodge with the Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), Lot 295 Quamina Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown, a petition to the minister objecting to granting of the Licence,” the Official Gazette notice stated.
The L-shaped, reinforced concrete weir, with coordinates 8°10.113’ N, 59° 48.456’ W, is identified as the place designed to be the area of diversion at the Hosororo Creek.
The Hosororo Hydropower Project was one of 67 sites identified in 1976 as having hydropower potential.
Situated at the Hosororo Creek about 4.6 km bees flight to the south-west of Mabaruma, the initial plant was built in the late 1980s to supply electricity to an agricultural produce processing facility that was built nearby. The project was abandoned some years after its inauguration.
In 2015, the German Government, through its German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) initiative, committed to assisting the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) with developing the project. The US$165,175 project received US$91,108 in financing from the Government of Guyana and US$74,067 in financing from GIZ/REETA.
According to the GEA, a lot of work was done over the past three years to reach the current level of the project’s realisation.
The resuscitated hydropower project will feature a new design that was conceptualised by GEA’s engineers and will entail the construction of a 20kW run-of-the-river type micro hydropower plant, inclusive of weir/intake and penstocks, but will use the existing powerhouse after it has undergone repairs.
Construction time has been estimated at eight months, with commencement before year-end.
The GEA will use the knowledge and experience gained from this project to continue its efforts towards the development of hydropower in Guyana, in keeping with its vision to provide reliable energy in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable framework.
