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File photo of oil workers Guyana via CMC.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Guyana government says it has spent an estimated GUY$47.8 billion (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) in the first six months of this year in its pursuit of energy security for the country.
In a statement, the Irfaan Ali government said that the country is experiencing growth at an unprecedented level due to the burgeoning oil sector and that GUY $100 billion had been set aside in the country’s first trillion-dollar national budget to achieve energy targets.
The government said the demand for energy has increased for both the domestic and manufacturing sectors and in a bid to address this increase in the short-term, a 28.9 megawatts (MW) of emergency power has since been installed at the Columbia substation.
It said Guyana is also receiving a supply of 36 MW of power from a power ship which is connected to the country’s main interconnected system.
“These interventions are expected to improve stability and reliability of electricity supply across the grid and address immediate generation shortfalls,” the government said, noting that work is continuing on the construction of the 300 MW Gas-to-Energy Project.
“Already, GUY$40.8 billion has been spent to advance work. Additionally, works were completed on 114 of the 371 pole foundations for the installation of transmission lines. In September, a request for proposals (RFP) was extended to qualified firms to design, finance, and operate Phase Two of the project, under a 20- to 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).”
The government said the installation of transformers is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024 and regarding long-term energy investment, the 165 MW Amaila Falls Hydropower Project remains under active consideration.
The authorities said that works have also advanced to improve solar power and mini hydropower generating capacity and that in the first half of the year, a 0.65 MW solar farm in Mahdia was substantially completed and is expected to be commissioned in the second half of the year.
Additionally, work for three solar farms will advance later this year.
The government said that it has returned to a strategy of reducing emissions associated with electricity generation by utilising the lesser-emitting natural gas and renewable energy and that “this is being done through a combination of (i) investment in transformational energy infrastructure across the generation and transmission systems; (ii) fiscal incentives and government policies to support the use of renewable energy at the level of households and businesses; (iii) investments to improve energy efficiency”.
It said that by 2030, it hopes 70 per cent of Guyana’s energy mix will be supplied through lesser-emitting and renewable energy sources.
