IN a bid to reduce monthly utility expenses, Everest Cricket Club (ECC) has implemented a Solar Panel System at their Camp Road establishment.
The system was officially commissioned yesterday and it was announced that it cost some G$5.8M which was fully funded by the People’s Republic of China.

Ambassador Guo Haiyan was present to cut the ribbon at the ceremonial opening of the project which started in June 2021 and has been tested since November.

The Ambassador indicated they are happy to be part of the project and that the “modest contribution” is echoing the call by Guyana’s Government about low energy emissions and sustainable development.

The 36 solar panels have the capacity to generate 16.7 kilowatts of energy and it means can potentially function solely on solar energy during the day.

At night, they would return to the Guyana Power & Light grid.
For this month, which has been extremely overcast, 35% of energy came from solar, and that is expected to increase to about 50% when the weather improves.

As part of the partnership with GPL, excess energy would be fed into the GPL grid.
Such benefits have enthused Club president, Manzoor Nadir about reduced costs in monthly utility expenses which can now be invested for developmental purposes.

“In order for clubs to function, flourish and realise the potential of its members, membership dues alone cannot suffice, and so you have to have a revenue mix in terms of generating inflows and thinking about projects to cut cost which is a formula for financial sustainability,” Nadir expressed.

“By cutting cost we are now able to put more money into hiring better technical coaches for our young players,” the ECC president stressed.

Dr Mahender Sharma, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Guyana Energy Agency, highlighted the cost-effective nature of the system, as he noted, “the way this is configured, it allows energy to be stored in a battery to provide backup supply in the event of an outage but more importantly it offsets the energy needed for the building and does not take that energy from GPL.”

According to Dr Sharma, the supply is about 2 000 kilowatts per month which saves Everest about $100 000 per month,
Everest partnered with SPECOM (Standby Power Engineering Company) to execute the project.