While Pressie’s been Santa to the Guyanese nation — bringing joy into their lives with a plethora of initiatives that are putting more money into their pockets — the year’s closing off with Uncle Sam complementing his role from outside!! The US$$526M loan – towards the construction of that transformational 300MW natural gas-to-energy (GtE) plant at Wales – has been approved by the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank).
While the Government worked strenuously to give us a blackout-free Christmas by renting two ships to deliver a total of 105MW of power, we all know this was a stopgap measure. The GtE project would simultaneously take care of our rising energy demands, due to the incredible pace of Govt’s infrastructural and private enterprise projects, and significantly cut costs to users!! That’s tantamount to eating your (energy) cake and having it too!! High and erratic energy costs and supply have been two of the highest hurdles businesses in Guyana have had to confront!!
These lower energy costs – initially projected at 50%, but which would come in a tad higher – would also be passed on to household consumers and leave a sizeable chunk of money in their pockets!! The Govt has announced a “Phase II”, that would add another 250MW!!
As the US EXIM Bank noted, this project’s gonna significantly REDUCE our carbon footprint – since the natural gas the plant would be burning releases much less deleterious waste products than the heavy fuels we’ve been burning up to now.
Some in the Opposition’s been saying we should be switching more into “renewables”. That’s more than ironic, since they torpedoed – as far back as 2013 – the Amaila Falls Hydro that would’ve delivered 165MW of clean energy!! Everything was in place; and now, even though the Govt has again placed it on the front burner, financing and logistical issues have delayed it. In terms of solar, while the Government is committed to – and has embarked on – this route, only the GtE project can handle our present needs in a viable time-frame.
Now the Opposition has also raised all sorts of objections about the GtE project, and even petitioned the US Govt and EXIM Bank to cancel the loan!! Good thing the two parties – which spent months conducting their due diligence – withstood their huffing and puffing; unlike the private company Sithe, which folded in 2013!! The US loan will finance the power plant and the plant to purify the natural gas – brought ashore by the pipeline being constructed by Exxon from their FPSOs.
The pipeline cost should come out of our cost oil. Most critically, natural gas gonna kick-start a petrochemical industry to produce from fertilizers to proteins!!
The Opposition is also kvetching about the location. They should reveal who owned the land for THEIR proposed GtE site!!
…power blocs
As foreseen by Gibbons since the 18th century – writing about the Romans – empires will rise and fall.
Some see the American Empire – hegemonic since WWII – right now falling. And since it’s also said that power vacuums are never left as such for long, it’s not surprising that there’s no shortage of aspirants to its position!! Chief among these is actually not a country but a grouping – BRICS+.
Serendipitously, a British economist published an article in 2001 about “emerging economies”, and gave the acronym BRIC to the top four he identified: Brazil, Russia, India and China. By June 2009, these countries had actually met and launched BRIC for real – which kept on growing. South Africa joined in 2011; Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates joined in 2024; and come Jan 1, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan would also be joining the grouping. With 41% of the global economy and half the world’s population under their control, they’ll surely give the US a run for its money.
Should we join??
…strongman
When the Netherlands gave Suriname a golden handshake of US$2+billion at independence in 1975, it spurred fierce competition to capture government and that stuffed cookie jar!! Strongman Desi Bouterse, who emerged on top after a coup and executions, has just passed away!!
