— says President Ali

THE Government of Guyana has already initiated several programmes that seek to slash the cost of energy by at least 50 per cent before the end of 2024. This confirmation was given by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, who emphasised that affordable energy was a critical component of Guyana’s development.
“Recognising the importance of energy sufficiency, reliability, affordability and sustainability, your government has commenced investment in the energy sector,” President Ali said in his recent address to the nation. He indicated specifically that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration will be aiming “for a new generation capacity of at least 500 megawatts in the immediate term, with the option to expand this further in the longer term”. The Head of State had previously announced his government’s policy of pursuing a comprehensive energy mix which will capitalise on the abundance of resources such as solar, wind, gas and hydropower.
In his speech, President Ali highlighted the major initiatives that have commenced in an effort to reduce the cost of energy locally. These include the iconic gas-to-shore project at the Wales Development Authority. This, according to Dr. Ali, “will see 250 megawatts of new power generation constructed”.

Further, the President said that solar generating capacity will also be installed to deliver at least 30 megawatts of power. “Within individual remote communities and clusters of communities, stand-alone renewable solutions will also be explored, including hydropower and solar power plants as well as stand-alone solar panels,” Dr. Ali related.
He also pointed to the restarting of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, which is expected to deliver another 160 megawatts of new power.
It was only recently that the Office of the Prime Minister issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to design, build and finance the Amaila Falls project. In a notice published online, the government expressed its desire to begin construction of the hydro-power plant by the second half of 2022, in pursuit of a 2025 completion and commissioning deadline.
It was explained that currently, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL)’s Development and Expansion (D&E) plan for 2021 to 2025 projects the total capacity required in 2025 as 465 megawatt and energy of 2,900 gigawatt hours. It was the PPP/C Government that had conceptualised the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, prior to demitting office in 2015. As a matter of fact, the initiative was launched in 2009, but in 2013, it was voted down by the then two-party Parliamentary Opposition. This had forced the project’s major investor, Sithe Global Incorporated to withdraw from the undertaking altogether.

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In 2014, Norway, under its climate partnership with Guyana, transferred some US$80M to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to fund the project. When the PPP/C returned to office in August 2020, it recommitted to the project, and went on to propose the aforementioned energy mix aimed at utilising both natural gas, Heavy Fuel Oil, and renewables such as hydro, wind and solar. During the parliamentary debates on the 2020 National Budget, Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, had chided the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) for dismissing the project when they took office 2015.
Benn, who was the Public Works Minister when the project was birthed, pointed to the report prepared by a Norwegian company called Norconsult, which was selected by the then APNU+AFC administration, in 2016, to conduct a financial model review of the high-profile Amaila Falls Project.

In 2017, Stabroek News released some of the findings of the review, which indicated that the only realistic path towards an “emission-free” electricity sector was via the development of Guyana’s hydro-power potential. It was noted, too, that the fastest way forward was to maintain the Amaila Falls Hydro-power Project as the first major step for substituting the current oil-fired generation. The Guyana Chronicle had reported that the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project was expected to cost just under US$1 billion, and would be able to generate 165 megawatts of stable and reliable electricity for 11 solid months of the year, with the additional month, during the dry season, being used for scheduled maintenance.

Recent checks done by this newspaper determined that the project is still bankable, meaning that the financiers are still open to the idea of funding the project, and that all the technical studies are still relevant. As a result, the restart timeline is expected to be much shorter than it was before 2015. With all of the aforementioned projects coming on stream, President Ali said that Guyana was poised to become the energy capital of the region. “Work in all of these areas have commenced and are at various stages of implementation,” the Head of State posited.
He had previously warned, however, that even with Guyana’s petroleum potential, revenues garnered would be plugged into the acceleration of other important sectors such as agriculture, health, education, and various social services.