FOR too long Guyana’s development has been hindered by the lack of a reliable electrical power supply. Residents of the heavily populated coast, including the capital city, have had to endure too frequent blackouts, while many hinterland communities have resigned themselves to a substandard existence without any electricity at all.

Twenty-three years of PPP rule have brought from PPP officials nothing but unfulfilled assurances, empty promises, temporary, band-aid fixes, and repeated disappointments. The lack of any comprehensive plan to move Guyana into the modern age has earned the country nothing but disrespect on the international stage. The fact that many of our neighbours believed that our country was hopelessly ‘backward’ is not disputed. All of that changed with the election of the APNU+AFC coalition in May 2015.

With the election of President David Granger came renewed hope. The president had articulated a detailed and workable plan that would put an end to the decades of stagnation and backwardness. The president unveiled a radical and innovative programme of conversion from our country’s dependence on fossil fuels, to one of the efficient use of renewable energy sources. Such a far-reaching departure from the failed system of the past had never before been proposed, let alone implemented. President Granger’s goal is to progressively move towards 100 per cent renewable power supply by 2025. That objective is consistent with, and part of, the overarching vision of a ‘green’ trajectory of national development.

The president noted that we simply cannot and need not continue to spend some 24 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the purchase of power-generating petroleum products. After all, Guyana is blessed with an abundance of sources of renewable energy. The president expressed that all that was needed to solve the problem was political will, of which there is no shortage in the coalition administration.

Arizona State Sustainable Development Professor Gary Dirks agrees. At a Lecture organised by the Guyana Press Association (GPA) in collaboration with Conservation International, the expert said, “Your energy system at this point relies on hydrocarbons. You have the real opportunity going forward to look at that system and say, ‘How can I use renewables more effectively?’”

Considering Guyana’s oil-producing prospects, the petroleum executive responsible for the Asia-Pacific area pointed out that, “There is absolutely no reason why you can’t have a green growth agenda pursued aggressively and be an oil-producing nation at the same time.” His informed views, of course, make sense.
When the coalition took office, implementation of the renewable-energy plan was immediately initiated. To date, in stark contrast to the PPP’s never-to-be-realised promises, there is much tangible progress. In fact, advancement has been real, obvious, and remarkably rapid.

Last November, government announced that the construction of a $254 million solar farm at Mabaruma is complete and will be connected to the town’s power grid. Currently, residents of Mabaruma receive their electricity from generators that use fossil fuels. However, when the solar farm becomes fully functional, the town will have a hybrid system. Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson explained that “During the day when the sun is up, the whole town will be powered by the solar farm.”

He elaborated that because sunlight is intermittent and variable in intensity, the generating sets will fill any shortfall in demand. For example, on cloudy days the solar farm may generate 80 per cent of the town’s electricity, while the generators will supply the remaining 20 per cent required by residents. Switching between solar power and fossil fuel power will be smoothly automatic.

Consistent with the clean, renewable, reliable energy policy, government has announced that solar farms will soon be constructed in the capital towns of Lethem in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region, Mahdia in the Potaro-Siparuni region, and Bartica in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni region. Those farms will be used to reliably supply electricity to entire communities. In areas where residential dwellings are farther apart, a tailored approach is being used. For example, some 6,000 residents of about 25 hinterland communities are receiving solar home systems under the Sustainable Business Models for Rural electrification and Energy Access Project.

In September 2018, Regional Education Officer of Region 10 (Ag), Ms. Keane Adams, said that starting in 2019, the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Department of Education will be focussing on the green initiative and bringing schools on board to rely on renewable energy. She said that solar panels will be installed in more schools in the new year. Another transition the department will be making is to transform traditional chalk and board classrooms into smart classrooms which will revolutionise learning to meet the standards of a technological educational sector.

Meanwhile, on the coast, solar panels are being installed on government buildings, thereby making those buildings less dependent on power from fossil fuels. About 100 buildings have been outfitted to date. Those panels alone will generate about 2,000 watts of power.
Of course, solar power is not the only source of clean energy. Government has, so far, identified about 100 locations across Guyana where hydroelectric power systems may be feasible. And work on this power source is underway. Specific studies of our hydro-electric potential are due to begin shortly at Moco Muco and Kumo.

Most recently, government has announced that feasibility studies and pilot projects are underway with regard to the use of wind power, both on the coast and in interior locations.
Evidently, President Granger, by pursuing a ‘green’ path of development, has fundamentally transformed Guyana’s energy policy initiatives. Considering the fact that in fewer than four years so much tangible progress has been made, one can only imagine the pace of development which is possible if the president is allowed, by the people, to continue his work of transformative innovation.