The PPP/C Government intends to reduce the cost of energy within 5 years

Dear Editor,
The Guyana Government said on Wednesday that it intends to reduce the cost of energy in the country by 50 per cent over the next five years.
Prime Minister Brigadier (retired) Mark Phillips, in a virtual address to the roundtable discussion organised by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Latin American Energy Organisation (OLADE), said the new Irfaan Ali Administration is committed to providing stable and reliable energy for both domestic and commercial purposes, with the aim of reducing energy cost by at least 50 per cent over the next five years. He told the discussion that high on the Guyana Government’s agenda is to significantly upgrade the energy sector.
“(we) will pursue a programme with an energy mix that includes hydropower, natural gas, solar and wind, which will lead to more than 400 megawatts of newly-installed capacity for residential and commercial users over the next five years, and a reduction in the cost of energy by at least 50 per cent”, he said.
The Government of Guyana will take urgent action to improve and upgrade the transmission and distribution of energy. Mr. Phillip, addressing the theme of the roundtable event, “Leaving no one behind – how to build inclusiveness into sustainable recovery”, said Guyana’s policy to develop a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy is outlined in the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which mandates maintaining low deforestation rates and sustainable use of resources over generations.
Additionally, he said the Government is committed to exploring all possibilities for the use of natural gas for electricity production. Completion of the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project, expansion of the Hinterland Electrification Programme to benefit 25,000 households, and development of mini-hydropower grid-tied systems in towns such as Lethem and Bartica are also on the agenda.
These actions will lead to a modernised energy sector with an increased mix of clean and renewable resources that provide affordable, reliable and clean energy services for all in the most sustainable manner. Latin America and the Caribbean can ensure energy access and inclusiveness as an integral part of recovery measures through improved data collection and knowledge sharing, support for investment promotion, access to grant funding and concessional financing, and the sharing of policies and programmes, among other initiatives.
Head of the Energy Division, International Development Bank, Ariel Yépez, described Guyana’s energy agenda as ambitious. “We are glad to hear that you are working on a huge commitment to reduce the energy access gap… congratulations.”
The ILA-OLADE Ministerial Roundtable was a virtual high-level dialogue, in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), aimed at creating “insights for defining Latin America’s regional energy agenda for a post-COVID-19 era.”
There is widespread popular support for using renewable energy, particularly solar and wind energy, which provides electricity without giving rise to any carbon dioxide emissions. Harnessing these for electricity depends on the cost and efficiency of the technology, which is constantly improving, thus reducing costs per peak kilowatt and per kWh at the source.
Utilising electricity from solar and wind in a grid becomes problematical at high levels for complex but now-well-demonstrated reasons. Supply does not correspond with demand. Back-up generating capacity is required due to the intermittent nature of solar and wind. System costs escalate with increasing proportion of variable renewables.
Policy settings to support renewables are generally required to confer priority in grid systems, and also to subsidise them; and some 50 countries have these provisions.
Utilising solar and wind-generated electricity in a stand-alone system requires corresponding battery or other storage capacity.
The possibility of large-scale use of hydrogen in the future as a transport fuel increases the potential for both renewables and base-load electricity supply.
The Centralised state utilities’ focus on economies of scale can easily overlook an alternative model of decentralised electricity generation, with that generation being on a smaller scale and close to demand. Here higher costs may be offset by reduced transmission losses (not to mention saving the capital costs of transmission lines) and possibly increased reliability.
Generation may be on site, or via local mini grids. There is a fundamental attractiveness about harnessing such forces in an age which is very conscious of the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels, and where sustainability is an ethical norm.
So, today, the focus is on both adequacy of energy supply long-term, and also the environmental implications of particular sources. In that regard, the near certainty of costs being imposed on carbon dioxide emissions in our country at least will profoundly change the economic outlook of clean energy sources.
A market-determined carbon price would create incentives for energy sources that are cleaner than current fossil fuel sources, without distinguishing among different technologies. This puts the onus on the generating utility to employ technologies which efficiently supply.

Sincerely,
David Adams