GUYANA’S fast-growing economy is presenting an energy challenge that can no longer be measured by simply looking at the flow of electricity through the national grid.
As the country’s energy planners are forced to increasingly account for the electricity being generated independently by mines, forestry operations, bauxite production and other large industrial activities, along with electricity supplied by the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).
This is an important difference, because an industrial plant that operates its own generators is still consuming energy, even if that demand isn’t captured in the usual figures for national-grid consumption.
This is exactly what President, Dr Irfaan Ali has pointed to, citing two major gold-mining projects that are likely to come on stream, estimating that each could consume some 80 megawatts of electricity.
Such operations could generate their own electricity from diesel or heavy fuel oil, or possibly secure power from new generation capacity, he said.
The importance is broader than the mining sector.
GPL reported that peak demand has increased from about 125 MW in 2020 to about 255 MW in 2026, along with the utility’s customer base and demand from housing, manufacturing, hospitality and other sectors.
Consequently, GPL has embarked on a major programme of grid modernisation and reinforcement.
Those numbers show why Guyana needs a complete national energy-accounting system.
If a new mine is generating 80 MW for itself, then that power isn’t falling by the wayside of the national energy equation just because GPL isn’t buying it. It is a true demand due to economic activity and so do other big companies that generate their own power.
A complete picture of national energy demand should therefore reflect at least three interconnected components.
These are electricity supplied through the national grid, electricity generated independently by large consumers and new demand from projects that have been announced or are close to production.
Such information would provide policy makers, utilities, investors and businesses a more accurate basis to decide how much generation capacity Guyana will actually need.
That is especially important as the country moves to a very different energy mix.
Bids have been submitted by prospective developers and the proposed Amaila Falls Hydropower Project is currently at the evaluation stage. The project will be constructed to deliver a minimum installed renewable capacity of 165 MW and the government has said the preferred arrangement will be project-financed with a power-purchase agreement.
But Amaila Falls, important though it may be in the future generation mix, must be considered in relation to the broader increase in electricity consumption.
Guyana is not merely seeking to keep the lights on for an existing population. New housing developments, manufacturing plants, commercial activities, mining operations, infrastructural and other investments are creating new loads.
Demand-side management is also identified by the Guyana Energy Agency as a key component of the response.
The action plan to 2026 aims for energy savings of 516 gigawatt-hours by 2030, which represents a 20 per cent reduction against projected generation.
This means that the energy conversation has to go beyond the narrow question of how many megawatts GPL can produce.
The more important question is how much energy Guyana’s developing economy will need, where that demand will come from, how quickly it will grow and what combination of generation, transmission, distribution, storage, efficiency and private-sector generation will be needed to meet it.
There’s also a case for better coordination between the institutions responsible for energy policy, power generation, regulation, industrial development and economic planning.
The president has argued that Guyana needs an energy authority that is more agile, flexible and proactive, with the technical and managerial capacity to operate in a period of rapid transformation.
Whatever the institutional structure eventually emerges, the basic requirement is clear: energy planning must keep pace with economic planning.
It is not possible for the country to approve major industrial investments and then ask where their power will come from.
Nor can we conceive of private generation and public generation as two entirely separate energy worlds. The fact that a mine, factory or other industrial operation generates electricity does not make its energy requirement irrelevant to the national plan.
In fact, it is the opposite.
Large-scale private generation can relieve immediate pressure on the national grid, but it can also open the door to future interconnection, renewable-energy development, shared infrastructure and more efficient use of generation resources.
Guyana’s own energy planning also recognises self-consumption and distributed generation, including biomass and solar power.
The aim should thus be a single, trusted national view of energy demand, whether the electricity is generated by GPL, a private company, a renewable-energy facility or an industrial operation’s own power plant.
Guyana is entering a period where access to energy will increasingly determine the pace and sustainability of economic growth.
The country has a chance to plan for that growth instead of reacting to it.
A useful start would be to count every watt, from the national grid to an industrial generator deep in the hinterland.