THE coming on stream of the 400KW solar farm at Khan’s Hill, Mabaruma, was stalled after the contracting company continually refused to take responsibility for the poor earthing which resulted in a lightning strike, damaging the distribution panel of the structure.

“The solar farm was struck by lightning and one of the distribution panels was burnt. This is the panel that distributes electricity from the solar farm to the power house. An engineer came up here, who knows about solar, and say what has to happen is that the plant has to be properly earthed or another lightning strike will damage the panel again even if they replace it,” notes Barima-Waini Regional Executive Officer, Randolph Storm.

The farm was originally scheduled to become operational in 2018, however despite being completed, it was found that the facility was not functioning. The damage and resulting negotiations with the contractor affected the timeline.

The solar farm is being built by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MoPI), and managed by the Hinterland Electrification Company Incorporated (HECI). The farm was constructed by German company Meeco, at a cost of $227,706,890.

“The Mabaruma solar farm has not been functional to date due to defective works by the contractor. In 2017, the contract was awarded post-public tender to a German company to construct the 400KW solar farm. The works were scheduled to be completed by 2018. Unfortunately, due to a number of consequential factors – most significantly, severe weather conditions causing damage to the electrical infrastructure – the timeframes were not met,” a statement from the ministry said, on Wednesday.

According to MoPI, “despite numerous efforts to amicably resolve the matter,” the contractor “was reluctant to carry out further works to rectify the issues”, as such the decision was taken last month to terminate the contract with the contracted company, and have the damage fixed by other means.

“The Guyana Energy Agency, in collaboration with Hinterland Electrification Company Incorporated (HECI), is working to replace the damaged transformer… bids have already been invited for the supply of the transformer. Additionally, proposals are soon to be invited to complete the outstanding works on the solar farm,” the statement further said.
In the ministry’s statement, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Hinterland Electrification Company Incorporated (HECI), Horace Williams, notes that investigations revealed the company did not construct the facility in keeping with certain specifications.

“We ended up in a dispute with the contractor about whose responsibility it is to replace these items following the lightning strike. We concluded that the contractor was responsible because the contract stipulated that they were supposed to provide equipment to safeguard against these types of things,” Williams is quoted as saying.

“Once the structural aspect was completed, the installation and testing aspect commenced to verify the equipment’s performance when it was discovered that the systems were not working as required. The Government Electrical Inspectorate conducted a test on the grounding of lightning protection systems and found that these did not meet the specifications.”

The ministry also refuted claims that the farm is being “reclaimed by the forest” as reported by Regional Chairman, Bretnol Ashley, in some sections of the media.
The ministry says the “government is committed to seeing this project through to its completion for the comfort and development of Mabaruma”.
Upon completion of the project, the town can rely on 1,808 kWh of reliable renewable energy per day. This will minimise the use of diesel generators and avoid the region’s burning of approximately 21,000 litres of fuel per month.