Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

Amaila Falls Hydro saga

“This government can’t have clarity around numbers” – Jagdeo

The flip-flopping by the A partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Administration over the Amaila falls Hydropower Project continues, as the Government continues to send mixed messages on the future of what is termed the largest single Private Sector investment in Guyana’s history and a project seen as one that can significantly move Guyana in the direction of green energy.

Finance Minister Winston Jordan

During the 2015 Budget debate last August, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had asserted it would be “criminal” to pursue the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, as it would be too costly a venture for the Government to embark upon.

But after pressure from the Norwegian Government, which has already signalled its support for the project under Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), Jordan backpedalled on his statement and declared that the coalition never abandoned the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project.

“I hope that it is absolutely clear that contrary to reports that we have abandoned the project; that the project has always been on the burner,” he told the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Annual Dinner in November 2015.

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister David Patterson

He had declared that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) agreed to fund a fresh feasibility study of the project and a determination will be made based on the outcome of that study which will be completed in March 2016.

However, the Public Infrastructure Ministry, while admitting that the IDB study has not been completed, declared that the project is not feasible under its current economic model.

“I want to make it very clear that the economic model as it currently stands is not feasible as I have said all the time. We have 69 hydro sites in the country; it (Amaila) is one that is feasible; the economic model is not feasible. The Ministry of Finance has said on so many occasions that numbers that are being bandied around did not make sense. The Government has to put in extra money to buy down the interest, there is no sponsor willing to take the risk etc,” Patterson said at a news conference.

An artist’s impression of the Amaila falls Hydropower Project

Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo during a news conference on Friday took the Government to task over its seemingly confusing position regarding the project.

“The confusion in the Government… first its criminal from finance, then finance saying we going to asses it back, then Trotman saying something and now we have the latest episode from the Minister of Public Works (Public Infrastructure) and this is a project that can transform Guyana,” Jagdeo said.

“If after eight months in office, this Government can’t have clarity around number,s just numbers, then what are we to expect in the future?” Jagdeo questioned.

He noted that Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson is misinformed when he stated that the project will only go ahead if there is a private investor.

“This is a Private Sector project. The entire spending of the Government will be limited; including the US$80 million that we are getting from Norway…our own money that we earn, maximum we will spend will be US$165 million. What this will do, this will trigger an US$850 million investment, the rest of the money comes from the Private Sector, the US$700million will come from the Private Sector, not from Government and they sell power to us at half the price that it costs us to generate the power,” Jagdeo explained.

On the issue of alternative hydropower sites, Jagdeo said while there are other sites available, they do not have the capacity to provide power for the entire country.

“I said to the Minister… Moco Moco cost us US$3 million to do half a megawatt, that’s about US$6 million for one megawatt of installed capacity, Amaila is less than US$3 million for a megawatt of installed capacity and it (Moco Moco) can’t be a based load station, that’s half a megawatt   it’s not even connected to the grid. You can’t have solar as base load; you can’t have the wind now as base load. Tumatumari is too small and is not going to be connected to the grid. The only renewable source of energy that could become a base load for GPL is Hydropower and a major hydro and this one is far advances yet you are seeing the whole reverse,” he reasoned.

The Amaila Project is the flagship of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). The project was expected to deliver electricity to Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, and its second largest town, Linden.

Guyana currently relies on imported fuel oil and diesel for its electricity generation, which is both expensive and carbon-intensive.

The Amaila Hydropower plant was expected to shift Guyana’s reliance on thermal generation to renewable energy, eliminate over 90 per cent of the country’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, and provide energy production for approximately 90 per cent of Guyana’s population.