President of Synergy Holdings Inc. Fip Motilall who was here recently made a very encouraging disclosure about the current state of arrangements for the beginning of the construction of Guyana’s first large-scale hydroelectricity project at Amaila Falls.

According to Motilall financial closure to the project should be completed by year end paving the way for construction to begin early next year. He urged that “ the time to act is now” pointing out that while the fossil prices are currently relatively low they are likely to climb again in a couple of years.

This is a very important observation because it is a fact that fossil fuel prices go through a cyclical rise and fall which is based on several factors such as production, demand, stability in the Middle East and the state of the global economy.

At the moment the global recession no doubt is helping to put the brake on fuel consumption which in turn is contributing to the relative low fuel prices. However, inevitably the recession will come to an end and this will trigger increased fuel consumption which could once again lead to high prices and all its associating consequences, particularly for non-oil producing countries like Guyana.

Economic and industrial development in many developing countries like Guyana have been hindered by a lack of a cheap, reliable and efficient supply of energy which is so vital for the commercial, manufacturing and industrial sectors to maintain their competitive edge.

Increasingly, both developed and undeveloped countries, have been moving towards renewable sources of energy to meet their national needs.

According to Energy International Outlook “Although fossil fuel prices reached 10-year highs in 2000, the IEO2001 reference case projection expects energy prices over the long term to remain relatively low, constraining the expansion of hydroelectricity and other renewable resources over the projection period. Worldwide, renewable energy use is expected to increase by 53 percent between 1999 and 2020, but the current 9-percent share of renewables in total energy consumption is projected to decline slightly, to 8 percent in 2020. Total renewable energy use is projected to rise from 33 quadrillion Btu in 1999 to 50 quadrillion Btu in 2020.”

“Much of the growth in renewable energy use in the IEO2001 reference case is attributable to large-scale hydroelectric projects in the developing world, particularly in developing Asia, where China and India, as well as other developing Asian nations such as Nepal and Malaysia, are already building or planning to build hydroelectric projects that exceed 1,000 megawatts. Hydroelectricity and other renewable energy consumption is expected to grow by 4.0 percent per year in developing Asia over the projection period, with particularly strong growth projected for China “

“Several large-scale hydropower projects were revived or moved forward in 2000 in developing Asia. Construction of the 18,200-megawatt Three Gorges Dam project in China continued despite charges of corruption that surfaced in 2000, including a charge of embezzlement of $1.4 million by an official who was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to death. In India, the Supreme Court ruled that construction of the 1,450-megawatt Sadar Sarovar hydroelectric project could continue after being stalled by lawsuits for more than 6 years. In Malaysia, the government announced that it was considering increasing the capacity of its Bakun hydroelectric project from 500 megawatts to 2,500 megawatts, the scale of the original plans for Bakun. Laos signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Thailand for a 25-year power purchase agreement to take electricity from the proposed 920-megawatt Nam Theun 2 project.”

“Among the countries of the industrialized world, wind-powered electricity is still enjoying robust growth. Several States in the United States have adopted renewable portfolio standards (RPS) that should help promote strong growth of wind power. Australia is also poised to enact legislation that will act as an RPS, and the country is already seeing a jump in the plans to install wind power, in excess of 1,000 megawatts. Several countries in Western Europe continue strong development of wind power, including Germany, Denmark, and Spain. In the first 9 months of 2000 alone, 987 megawatts of wind capacity were installed in Germany, bringing the country’s total wind capacity to 5,432 megawatts, twice that of the United States”

Guyana with its abundant sources of hydroelectricity is therefore moving in the right direction in its quest to have a cheap reliable and efficient supply of energy.

Of course renewable sources of energy are crucial in the fight against pollution and climate change and their increasing use could significantly help to reduce emission gases and help reverse the frightening trends of global warming and climate change.