–with solar farm set to be commissioned soon, Jagdeo says

WITHIN a span of three weeks, 2.1 megawatts of power will come on stream in Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), providing the community with sustainable and efficient power.
This was according to Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, during a news conference on Thursday.
He said a generator was installed early this week to respond to disruptions to the power supply in the region.
It was reported that a generator there had failed, resulting in frequent blackouts in some areas of the town.

A team of officials through the support of the Office of the Prime Minister was quickly mobilised to address the situation.
“The PM’s office, the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Finance managed to secure a generator locally, pass it through the Tender Board, had it delivered to Mahdia and had it installed [Wednesday],” Jagdeo said.
He noted that the government was in the process of procuring a brand-new generator for the region to replace the existing ones; however, this would have taken months to arrive, hence, the decision was made to secure one locally to respond to the immediate disruptions.
“In a matter of four days, they managed to get a generator procured and installed in Mahdia so that the residents there could continue to enjoy full power in that area … Sometimes they do good work that goes on noticed,” the PPP General Secretary said.

The government, he further reminded, is working on a long-term solution to ensure that residents have access to sustainable power.
“In about another three weeks, we anticipate that the solar farm that is being built there will come online, so when that comes online in about four to three weeks’ time, Mahdia will then have about 2.1 megawatts of power when the demand now is less than a megawatts of power,” Jagdeo said.
A $362 million solar farm is being developed in Mahdia. The Standby Power Engineering Company (SPECOM) and the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) signed a contract for the project in October 2022.

The solar farm will help about 3,000 people by contributing 0.69 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Mahdia’s current micro grid.
According to Jagdeo, the solar farm, along with the existing generators, will supply all the region’s needs beyond its demands.

President Dr. Irfaan Ali recently disclosed that solar energy installation in Guyana has grown to 173 per cent since 2020, setting the stage for the country to achieve its ambitious energy-transition goal.
The Head of State had said that by 2030, the country’s energy consumption is projected to increase five-fold, but the country’s greenhouse gas emissions will remain flat or even decrease.
“Guyana’s energy transition is one of the most ambitious in the world,” he said, citing the current construction of the country’s flagship Gas-to-Energy project that will reduce electricity costs by 50 per cent and generate 300MW of power by 2025.
He noted, too, that the country will soon bring on stream the largest solar farms by 2025, totalling over 30MW in Berbice, Essequibo, and Linden.