Dear Editor,
Government should be giving preference to the Solar Solution in solving Guyana’s electricity woes. It is the fastest and safest way to solve our electricity supply problems.
The most recent advertisement for expressions of interest was so biased that only certain entities could qualify. More diesel-generated power, or even natural gas generation, will leave a carbon footprint and will not contribute to our climate change/sustainability goals.
Government should specify that either supplies should come from existing overcapacity, as in the case of Giftland, or from non-fossil fuel generation; solar power being the preference. We should not be encouraging more fossil fuel generating capacity.
Additionally, Government should make a simple offer to buy energy from solar farms. Minimum solar farm size should be one megawatt (MW). Each solar farm should be located near to a consumption area, so as not to have miles of transmission and suffer line losses. Most important, farms must be willing to set rates for the next 25 years.
Example:
First 5 years – 15 US cents per KW hour
Second 5 years – 12 US cents per KW hour
Remaining 15 years – 10 US cents per KW hour
I use these rates because, from my investigation, these rates would provide an attractive return on investment and would generate a lot of interest from investors. Solar farms cost less than US$2 per installed watt, or US$2M per 1 MW farm.
When you see how much was invested in the Ponzi scheme, you have to understand that Guyanese not only have money, they are looking for investment opportunities, even bad ones.
I am confident that, with such an offer, many persons in this country would be prepared to invest in solar power farms to supply electricity to GPL.
Solar Farms are good for supply only during the day. You will have to continue to rely on existing fossil fuel generating capacity for nighttime supply. As more Solar Farms come online, less generating capacity will be needed during the day, and more will be available for nighttime.
The $10.5 billion that was just spent on fossil fuel generators could have been used to install at least 24 MW of solar farms. What we will get is generators that will use fuel and need maintenance, and be just as reliable as what we are getting now. This is not an improvement. With solar farms, Government makes no investment, is not responsible for any maintenance, and will pay for usage only.
Hydro
Presently, the Amaila Falls can generate 168MW at a cost of US$868M. These facilities will have to be operated and maintained. Transmission lines will have to bring power to the consumers, which implies additional costs, including line losses. This will cost US$5+ per installed watt. The money that was borrowed and earmarked for hydro power in the interior will cost over US$4 per installed watt.
Solar farms can come on stream quickly, and cost the Government nothing. Give the Private Sector reasonable rates for a 25-year period, and let them take over power generation using non-fossil fuel generation, and the Government can focus on more important things.
Respectfully,
Sase Shewnarain
