Junior Communities Minister boasts of “increased access” to electricity

…as GPL continues to grapple with prolonged blackouts

Vice Chair of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and Junior Communities Minister, Annette Ferguson on Friday boasted of an increase in access to electricity even as sections of the country continue to face frequent blackouts.
Ferguson was at the time speaking of the achievements of the ruling caretaker Government during a press conference on Friday at Congress Place, Sophia, Georgetown.
“Currently over 90 per cent of the people in Guyana have access to electricity, rising by four per cent since 2014”, she added.
The Minister further highlighted some of the investments that have been done to achieve this notable accomplishment.
“New oil and diesel power plants in Anna Regina which is 5.5 megawatts which cost the Government in excess of $1.1 billion, Bartica 3.5 megawatts, which cost us $800 million and renewable energy projects including Canefield 5.5 megawatts which cost us $1.7 billion”.
In addition, she pointed out that some 21,700 LED lights were installed along with 4793 occupancy sensors under the Administration’s Green Public Sector Programme.
The Vice Chair’s praises of the Government’s work in this regard does not take away from the fact that only a few weeks ago, countrywide blackouts had been massively affecting the country.
This was triggered after two of the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL’s) submarine cables got damaged by vessels.
Last month although one was recovered across the Demerara River linking the Vreed-en-Hoop and Kingston power plants, GPL told residents not to breathe a sigh of relief just yet as the interconnected system was not stable as yet.
On the other hand, the second damaged cable remains in its destructed form as GPL awaits materials needed to rectify the cable.
Only last week Guyana Times reported that the materials are being sourced to fix the 13.8kV submarine cable which rests along the upper Demerara River within proximity of Craig, East Bank Demerara. The cable was dislodged by a barge sailing along the Demerara River at around 04:23h on June 6, 2019.
The Government was blasted by the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, last month when he held a press conference, as he explained that the occurrence of regular blackouts and load shedding could have been prevented by the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project that was scrapped by the APNU/AFC coalition.
The Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, which was initiated under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration, could have been generating about 50 per cent more electricity than the entire GPL supply at the time in 2012.
But the project was scrapped by the coalition Administration which had controlled the National Assembly by a one-seat majority.
In addition, the former President posited that the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project was far more stable and reliable than any of the renewable energy projects being pursued by the Government.
In fact, none of the renewable energy projects that are being undertaken by the coalition Government will contribute to the national grid and as such, it will not help solve the blackout woes. The Amaila Falls Hydropower Project was the flagship of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy.
Amaila was expected to deliver a steady source of clean, renewable energy that would have been affordable and reliable and was envisioned to meet approximately 90 per cent of Guyana’s domestic energy needs while removing the dependency on fossil fuels.
The electric plant was proposed to be a 165 MW (installed capacity) hydropower generation facility, located in west-central Guyana, approximately 250 kilometres south-west of Georgetown.