By David Papannah

“BRAZILIANS come here and say this is a town, bai! Look at this light up. The solar panels (providing electricity to homes) have really changed the look of our village at night,” Aloysius Rodrigues of Karasabai, South Pakaraima, said as he watched around his lit-up community.
As homes glow under the soft illumination of solar-powered light, it is a change of scenery villagers are getting accustomed to. Villages like Karasabai and many others inhabited by Indigenous people for decades have relied on kerosene lamps or costly, heavy combustion generators for electricity at night.
“It changed up the community dramatically when everybody’s home lit up,” he added, reflecting on the nights when only the full moon provided illumination.
The Solar Home Energy (SHE) initiative has brought essential electricity to remote Guyanese villages.
While successive governments, over the years, made efforts in furnishing communities with electrical generators to supply electricity, the cost and difficulty of reaching these remote communities made nationwide electrification difficult.
Despite the small successes in some communities, turning to solar energy has accelerated the government’s plans to close the energy gap between urban and rural communities.
This shift from electricity produced by fossil fuel generators to renewables comes as Guyana balances its emerging role as a significant oil producer with its commitment to clean energy.

GOVERNMENT’S HOUSEHOLD SOLAR INITIATIVE
The government electrification programme announced in 2021 targeted 30,000 homes but has since surpassed that estimation.
Head of the Guyana Energy Agency, Dr Mahendra Sharma, in an interview, said, “A total of 30,000 [of the government’s] SHE systems have been distributed [and installed] to households at the community level. An additional 7,230 systems have been ordered and will be distributed in 2025.”
With financial backing by Indian Export Import (EXIM) in 2021 through the US$7.2 million line of credit, the government conceptualised the project.

The SHE project was designed to provide electricity access through Solar Photovoltaic systems, thereby enhancing the livelihoods of citizens residing in remote communities.
“The SHE systems have proven to be an effective means of delivering electricity cost-effectively at an individual level to the households of the hinterland and riverine communities,” Sharma related.
He noted that with the distribution of 160-watt solar-powered systems, households from the hinterland and riverine communities are able to enhance their resilience and self-reliance by accessing sustainable energy.
“It promotes household welfare by enhancing the quality of life and productivity of people living in remote areas…provides energy for lights, fans and mobile phone chargers [and also] provides economic, health, and environmental benefits,” he noted.
According to Sharma, whose agency spearheads the distribution and installation, each beneficiary from the project received an SHE system, which is designed with a 160-watt solar PV panel, a charge controller unit with a 48 Ah Li-ion Battery to power two nine-watt LED lamps and one 12-watt stand fan, and is equipped with a USB Port for charging portable electronic devices.

FUEL SAVINGS AND EDUCATIONAL IMPACT
Since the installation, Sharma noted it is evident that SHE systems are actively making a difference in the lives of those who benefitted, providing quality light at night to enhance security, aid children studying at night (education) and increase active working hours.
Aloysius related, “It is not my grandchildren alone benefitting from this. All the children in the villages get the opportunity we never had. They can now complete their school work at night.”
Even though the wattage of the panels is low, residents have said it has been beneficial to their households.

In Rukumuta Village, South Pakaraima (Region Nine), a tiny Indigenous Community where dirt bikes are the main vehicle of transport between villages, a resident said that since the installation of solar panels, the average family’s fuel consumption has decreased.
“The residents are not focusing on buying any fuel or buying generators for homes since the government has given us the solar panels…It is very useful to the children of our households. They can study at night, do their assignments, and even wake up in the early morning and do their assignments and homework.”
Sherlon Davis, another Karasabai Village resident, during a government outreach, pleaded with the government for this to be a continuous programme, as new houses are being constructed by families daily. The resident said that distribution can give families a “push start”, as their dependence on purchasing fuel will be eliminated.

Since the rollout of the programme, many communities that were energy-starved were able to receive electricity for the first time.
Indigenous Peoples’ advocate and Head of Non-Governmental Organisation, Amerindian People’s Affair, Jean La Rose, hailed the project as beneficial. She noted it has helped many families transition from reliance on fuel generators to renewable sources of energy.
“It has definitely had an impact on the purchasing of fuel… I know that there are communities where they [don’t have any government supplied generators] so it has certainly made an impact…it has been very useful in providing some amount of electricity to the communities,” she explained.

However, Jean who hails from Moruca Sub-District in Region One close to the Guyana Venezuela Border and mainly accessible boats and small engine aircrafts, recommended that higher wattage be considered in future distribution to further empower communities and make them energy resilient.
For her, with higher wattage, families can build sustainability and capitalise on economic opportunities. She noted that Region One households have been able to reduce their fuel supply since receiving their solar panels.
“So it’s good in the short term for mere domestic use, but for livelihoods, there would need to be an improvement in the power supply…with our push to have communities a lot more resilient…Carpenter, needing to power your tools. You have a problem there. Someone wants to do cattle rearing. You want to have storage for their chickens or whatever. You don’t have power to support such initiatives,” she said.

According to Sharma, under the project, some 2.6 million litres of fuel will be saved annually. The project will also eliminate some 6,692 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
This initiative is part of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030, which seeks to balance economic growth with environmental conservation. While Guyana is emerging as a significant oil producer, the government has reaffirmed its commitment to renewable energy investments.
“With the implementation of this project, Guyana has an opportunity to leverage renewable energy and to sustainably address the energy access needs of its people,” the Energy Agency Head noted.
The installation of 37,230 solar panels with a capacity of 160 watts each, Sharma pointed out, will cause a total installed capacity of 5,956,800 watts, or 5.96MW.
“Off-Grid Solar home systems are a low-cost, resilient, and climate-friendly method of quickly delivering high-quality energy service to Hinterland and Riverine communities,” he emphasised.