POLICE are investigating the theft of solar and control panels, and damage to other equipment on the Wind Resource Measuring Station (WRMS), which was installed by the Hinterland Electrification Company Inc. (HECI) of the Ministry of Public Works at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) last December.

The 200-metre tall WRMS, which was installed to determine the potential of wind along the coast for generation of sustainable renewable energy, has been rendered inoperable as a result of the attack by an unknown person or persons, a reliable source close to the project disclosed.

“It was not a clean removal. The wires were hacked probably by a cutlass,” the source said. The WRMS at Onverwagt is located in a relatively isolated area of the foreshore.
The removal of the panels and damage to other equipment on the WRMS was discovered on Thursday last by staffers, who visited the location on the Atlantic foreshore at Onverwagt, but may have been done before Thursday. While awaiting the results of an investigation by the police, the officials of the HECI of the MPI were said to be mulling their next move in relation to the future of the WRMS at Onverwagt.

The WRMS at Onverwagt was part of a project by the HECI of MPI for the installation of four wind measurement stations along the Atlantic Coast. The stations are to be installed along the coast in Region Five at Onverwagt and at Port Mourant, Number 63 Village and Crabwood Creek in Region Six (East Berbice/Courentyne) respectively. The project is being funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and is being managed by the Inter American Bank.

The stations were supposed to be providing data for over a twelve-month period for analysis and determination of the potential for powering energy generated by wind turbines.