GUYANA will use its resources gained from the oil-and-gas industry to propel itself into an energy-efficient country primarily reliable on the use of sustainable, ‘green’ energy.
As a guest on VYBZ 100.1FM on Thursday, President David Granger said that the country is well on its way towards achieving this objective, which would ensure that it is not affected energy-wise by future fluctuations in global oil prices.
“Oil won’t last forever,” the President said. “Eventually oil revenues will plateau out, but we need go on living; we need to have food; we need to ensure that we can generate energy in the hinterland, and the idea is that we walk on two legs.”
With plans like Guyana’s Green State Development Strategy (GSDS): Vision 2040 and the government’s ‘Decade of Development: 2020 -2029’ which commenced this year, the president intends boosts the country’s progression towards a ‘green’ economy within the above set timelines.
He explained: “We will continue to use petroleum revenues, and while doing so, we will develop energy sources [such as] hydropower, solar power, particularly, and wind power, particularly in the hinterland and other places, so that at the end of the day, we will be able to sell that oil for good money, and at the same time have energy which will propel the industry, manufacturing, and households and hospitals and everything else.”
Already, countries like India have begun to laud Guyana’s transition towards a ‘green’ economy, even before oil, noting that such acts will set the country apart in the near future.
Just last month, India’s High Commissioner to Guyana Dr. K. Srinivasa said that the transformation is very much possible, as Guyana is bountiful when it comes to renewable resources.
He told the newspaper that India understands Guyana’s intention, as the country of 1.3 billion people is energy-deficient, and has now consciously decided to adopt a strategy to move away from fossil fuels to “green” energy. Guyana, on the other hand, will be hitting the ground running, hoping to learn from the mistakes of others rather than make the same ones themselves.
“It is evident that even in major oil- producing countries now, they have seen the wisdom of converting or changing over to sustainable sources [of energy] and they are going to continue selling oil but they’ll make sure that when their oil runs out or oil prices collapse, that they still have sustainable electricity in their country,” the President said.
In 2018, the Head of State signed the Framework Agreement of the International Solar Alliance, through which he pledged the country’s commitment to cooperating with India in pursuit of its goal of becoming a Solar State, a key component of Guyana’s GSDS.
Meanwhile, regarding the expected revenues from oil, which most Guyanese have set their sights on, the President reminded his audience that there would be no “sudden wealth”, but that under his government, Guyanese can be assured of a comfortable life.
The President said: “We want to ensure a high quality of life, where children can go to school; cities are going to be safe; there’s going to be equality among the ethnic groups [and] between the coastland and the hinterland; that young people have jobs. These are the things we’re aiming at. We’re not aiming at having a few people become very rich, and the mass of people remain poor. On the contrary, we want to see greater equality in the country.”
