Georgetown: Government is determined for Guyana to have hydro power generation facilities. In keeping with this thrust, five out of 67 possible sites are currently being assessed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for development. The assessment is expected to be completed by May 2016.
Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson said the five sites are Kamira, Kumu, Tumatumari, Tiger Hill and Amaila. The government will be using $80M from the Norway funds that were set aside for renewable energy development.
“At the end of this process, we will obviously assess them, however we will look to use the $80M in the most acceptable means of renewable energy … but it could be any form of large scale renewable energy – which is the understanding that we have so it’s a process which we are going through, and I think it’s a wise way to go forward,” Minister Patterson stated.
Government is also working with the Government of Brazil and other interested stakeholders in seeking additional funding for the hydro power/renewable energy project.
“We are moving ahead, and we working through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continuing discussions with them. There are other individuals who have MOUs. I think Kumu falls, there is a company that has an MOU with us and it remains to develop that falls, Tumatumari, Moco Moco – we are going out for an expression of interest to resuscitate the Moco Moco hydro falls so we haven’t excluded any project. It’s always a question of time and cost,” the Minister explained.
Renewable energy has been identified as a growth industry and Guyana has an abundance of wind, sun and water. Harnessing their potential would be a game changer for Guyana as it is believed that the country has enough capacity to not only satisfy its own energy demands, but to sell excess to its neighbours.
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