– at 35th special COTED meeting on energy
Guyana is rapidly advancing its own energy programme through the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project (AFHP) which has potential to transform the country’s electricity sector.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, performing the duties of president, touted Guyana’s hydro plan as officials in CARICOM met at the 35th special meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on energy at the Secretariat Headquarters.
The meeting is the first in two decades and was also joined by other CARICOM colleagues via video conferencing, the main objective being to review the region’s draft energy policy and hopefully establish a clear path to finalising such a policy. The stakeholders are ministers responsible for energy in CARICOM.
Thursday’s meeting was a follow-up to the first tabling of the CARICOM draft energy policy in 2007, following the completion of a study on energy prices within the CARICOM region.
The policy was developed by a task force comprising representatives of Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
Prime Minister Hinds, in his remarks, recounted numerous oil price fluctuations since the first oil shock in the 1970s, and the compelling impact such a phenomenon has had, particularly on CARICOM member states, to adopt innovative mechanisms to protect economies and peoples.
“Quite often, governments seek to temper the impact on the population, and in particular, those groups which are vulnerable. As we face up to the demands of energy security and climate change, some of our member states have sought to explore the development of local resources,” Mr. Hinds said.
“ Guyana is one such country, and it has been a long anticipated dream to move in the direction of renewable energy since the establishment of an energy policy in 1994, which defined hydropower as a strategic energy resource for development.”
The 150 megawatt AFHP has an estimated cost of $450M. This would include $305M for the plant itself and about $140M to fund the transmission lines.
In July 2010, a framework agreement between the parties to the project was signed in China, formalising the co-operation among the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), Sithe Global Amaila Holdings, China Development Bank, and the China Railway First Group.
The agreement sets out the parties’ intention to reach financial closure within 12 months or sooner.
Renewable energy has been touted as the key alternative to fossil fuels. Movements in oil prices are well known to have exacerbated the cost of certain commodity prices.
CARICOM has been monitoring, with cautious eyes, the hike in oil prices sparked primarily by unrest in the Middle East and its corresponding rise in prices of certain commodities around the world.
At Thursday’s special COTED meeting, the impact of the global energy challenges on the region was highlighted by CARICOM Secretary General (ag) Lolita Applewaithe.
“This continuing price escalation has significant economic implications for all of our countries. The World Bank reported that during the period of record oil price movement in 2007 and 2008, for every $10 dollars in upward movement in the price of oil, the worst hit CARICOM member states experienced a negative impact of 1.5 percent of GDP to 2.5 percent of GDP. To put it another way, every $4.30 increase in the price of oil could reduce GDP in our countries of up to one percent,”she said.
She made reference to Guyana’s impending hydro project and Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), among several other regional efforts, to promote clean/renewable energy, including Barbados’ solar energy initiative, Jamaica’s introduction of bio-fuel for transportation, hydro projects in Belize, Suriname, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica, and geothermal developments in St Kitts and Nevis and Dominica.
COTED’s Chairman and Minister of State in the Ministry of Legal Affairs in Antigua,
Senator Joanne Massiah, proposed several recommendations to fast-track the region’s energy policy, pointing to decisive action for  agreeing  a CARICOM energy policy focusing on alternative energy options and technology, the convening of an urgent COTED meeting to consider issues surrounding recent price increases in fuel and raw materials, and the consideration of additional national and regional initiatives aimed at providing relief, especially for the most vulnerable. (GINA)