–at inaugural Guyana Energy Conference in September
By Navendra Seoraj

THE road to energy efficiency and opportunities within Guyana’s burgeoning petroleum sector will be discussed extensively in September, 2021, when stakeholders from various sections of society converge at the inaugural Guyana Energy Conference and Exhibition 2021 (GEC-X ’21).

Organised by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and other local stakeholders, the conference and exhibition, slated for September 28 and 29, will be used as a platform to advance discussions pertaining to areas critical to the development of Guyana’s energy sector.

For developing nations, the need for reliable and affordable energy is fundamental because this supports expanded industry, modern agriculture, increased trade and improved transportation. These are the building blocks that help people to escape poverty and create better lives.

Local stakeholders have been particularly vocal over the years about the need for reliable and cheaper energy, since there are gaps in the local economy which could be addressed easily once energy efficiency is achieved.

The government has said already that it intends to address the existing shortfalls through an energy mix of solar, wind, hydro and natural gas, which could even propel Guyana to the ranks of net energy exporters and ultimately make the country the energy capital of the Region.

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, said the upcoming energy conference will present an ideal forum for this plan to be discussed in further detail.

The minister, in his address at the launch of the conference at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown, on Monday, said there has been a fundamental problem with the cost of power generation over the years.
“That has been a great hindrance, but the government has recognised that we need to address it early, because with cheaper power, we get opportunities and more initiatives,” Minister Bharrat said.

Budget 2021, he said, lays the foundation for what is to come in the next five years, which is anticipated to be an exciting period when every Guyanese will benefit from developmental projects. Among some of the projects in the pipeline are the gas-to-energy initiative, the Amaila Falls hydropower project and the establishment of several solar farms in various regions across the country.

He promised that Guyanese, within the next three years, will be able to enjoy cheaper and more reliable power. Those benefits, he said, will stretch from households to the private sector.
“Not only households will benefit, it will bring a lot of foreign and local investments in industrial projects and other productive industries,” Bharrat reasoned.

To further encourage investments, the government will be incentivising every sector and creating an even more business-friendly environment. This is necessary because investors have the capacity to utilise the country’s natural resources in a way that would be profitable in both the areas of finance and employment.

“We are not focusing only on new and dynamic sectors, we are focusing on traditional, productive sectors as this is also important for us… the economy was built on traditional sectors and a lot more can be made.
“Our traditional, productive sectors are important because it [sic] creates [sic] employment. But we need [the] private sector to partner with us to develop these sectors,” Minister Bharrat said.

NO APOLOGIES
The minister, who foresees criticisms about the budget being private-sector-focused, said: “We have no apologies for incentivising the private sector. It is a partner in development and we need foreign investors to come. We will continue to partner with foreign investors and locals to ensure that we move all sectors forward.”

The government’s commitment to local participation in every sector is evidenced by moves to establish a local content policy and subsequent local content legislation. Such provisions are particularly necessary because of the country’s nascent oil-and-gas sector, which is now being explored by locals.
Stakeholders will have an opportunity to further explore the sector and the opportunities it provides, when the energy conference kicks off in September.

President of the GCCI, Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, said the aim of the conference is to foster conversations specific to the energy sector.

“There will be discussions from the extraction of crude oil to the importation of heavy fuel oils and our current usage of that to produce electricity, as well as the efficient distribution of electricity so that reliable supply is not something we dream of, but it is more something we are accustomed to,” Boyer said, adding that those conversations are necessary because Guyanese businesses have been limited by the cost of energy for too long.

Noteworthy topics for discussions will be the need for a review of regulations which prevent wider adoption of renewable energy; the need for more energy infrastructure ahead of the new wave of industrialisation; and the bottlenecks to progression in the oil-and- gas sector.

Conversations related to those topics are timely, since the oil-and-gas sector, according to President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, is expected to be a “rock which creates ripples” and helps to advance the energy sector and [the] entire economy.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, is also optimistic that the conference will address issues which are critical to Guyana’s development.
He assured stakeholders that his office, amidst continuous economic growth, stands ready to facilitate investments, the transfer of knowledge and new initiatives.