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FM
Former Member

why are we not doing it ourselves? It is a BOOT scheme and for a cost no less than the money they are taking out from ATN and putting it into the Marriott casino to again hand over to someone else with no potential benefit to the nation except it enriches someone else!

This project would pay for itself and the money we would forgo in taxes and dividends to this new company we could have earned at lowering the rates of our people. This government cares only for the pocket book of its friends and family enrichment schemes.

All it aims at is projects t hat it can give away to others and not for projects that can ease the burden on the poor. This investor will take as much money out as he can and  he is entitled to do so.

Had we build it the income taken out could be recycled to extending the scope of wind power. Lacking that, we now have to bootstrap others with similar projects In 20 years we will get back some old wind turbines the owners would not have been obligated to keep to spec because their job would be to get out with  the most cash!

Govt. mulls US$40M wind farm at Hope Beach

February 9, 2014 | By | Filed Under News


- 25 MW project could be operational in 18 months
Government is seriously considering the approval of a 25-megawatt wind farm at Hope Beach, East Coast Demerara.
A feasibility study has been completed and the environmental hurdles have all been crossed for the US$40M project, says local businessman/investor, Lloyd Singh.

Investor, Lloyd Singh

Investor, Lloyd Singh

Government and the principals of the project have been meeting in recent months with the aim of signing a power purchase agreement that will see the state-owned Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) purchasing electricity at a cheaper rate, Singh confirmed yesterday.
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who has responsibility for power, told a Parliamentary committee with oversight on natural resources, that “rapid progress” has been made on a project for a wind farm at Hope Beach. Noting that a renewable energy project at Hope Beach was one that has been a “20-year aspiration”, Hinds disclosed that “studies” have been done and “records kept”.

Guyana wants additional, cheaper power as several new housing schemes and a number of new industries continue to spring up, spurring an increased demand for power. The administration has been pinning hopes on a 165-megawatt (MW) hydro electric project at Amaila Falls, Region Eight to meet demands.

However, that project has been temporarily shelved after the US developer, Sithe Global, pulled out last year. This was after the National Assembly remained divided on key legislation that was critical to the funding of the US$840M-plus project. Sithe Global had wanted total consensus from all the parties.

Government has since said it has not ruled out the Chinese, who were putting in a significant portion of the funding in the original arrangement, as bridging that balance of the money needed.

A US$26M, a 26 MW Wartsila power station is currently being built at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Bank Demerara, and expected to be up by mid-year, but Guyana will continually be looking for additional electricity.
With Amaila expected to take as much as five years to build, any supply of power to the national grid would welcomed by GPL.

According to Singh, it is estimated that power will be sold between 13-15 US cents per kilowatt to GPL. Currently, the power company, largely using the cheaper, heavy fuel oil, is generating at around 18 US cents per kilowatt.

The wind farm will consist of 10 GW-109 turbines each with capacity to produce 2.5 megawatts.
“We can become operational in as little as 16-18 months,” Singh said.

An artist’s impression of the 25-megawatt, US$40M project that Government is considering at Hope Beach.

An artist’s impression of the 25-megawatt, US$40M project that Government is considering at Hope Beach.

The businessman, who is also the main principal in International Pharmaceutical Agency Group and the major shareholder of Guyana Wind Farms Inc., is partnering with Avic International, a significant player in China’s wind farm development and the first company to install Chinese turbines in the United States.
In 2008, Avic International supplied 10 sets of one megawatt wind turbines for Lubbock, Texas and is a major supplier for the USA. Its current project includes the development of a 90-megawatt wind farm, also in Texas.
Singh disclosed that they will be teaming up with Goldwind Science and Technology Co. Ltd., China’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, headquartered in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China, to develop the wind farm. It is one of the largest China-based wind turbine manufacturers by the 2011 market share and the third largest in the world, delivering an installed capacity of 3,584 megawatts in 2011.


Singh is looking for the power facility to be built under a ‘Build, Own, Operate, Transfer’ (BOOT) arrangement, where it could end up in the hands of Guyana after a specific number of years.

“We are even looking to Lethem, Region Nine area, for a possible similar project and awaiting government’s approval to conduct a feasibility study. The Essequibo Coast is also not being ruled out.”
It is not the first time that eyes have been cast on Hope Beach for a wind farm. In 2009, Delta Caribbean N.V., a Curacao-based company, had been highly interested in this project. It had done feasibility studies for a 13.5 megawatt wind farm at an estimated cost of US$26M.

The project, Singh said, is now waiting on Government’s approval and the PPA for financial closure.

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Only a few years ago Jagdeo told the nation that there is not enough wind in Guyana to supply a wind farm. At the same time, he said that they are going to build the Amaila Falls Hydropower Plant at a cost of US $450 million. Lies, lies and more lies.

 

So where did they get the wind from to supply this new farm? Rummouthar eating more dhall?

 

US$26M Hope Beach wind farm no longer feasible

JULY 23, 2009 | BY  | FILED UNDER NEWS 

Hydropower plant will be aggressively pursued – Jagdeo

By Gary Eleazar

 

Guyana simply does not have favourable wind flow to justify the setting up of the intended wind farm at Hope Beach, East Coast Demerara.
This is according to Head of State Bharrat Jagdeo during an interactive session with media operatives, yesterday.
He emphasized that Guyana would have had to install 11 megawatts of power which when transferred to the national grid would have been reduced to three megawatts. This was a costly exercise given that with renewable energy the initial cost is high.
“We don’t have the wind flows that will do wind power justice like some other countries have.”
The president said that is why the country opted for a fossil fuel option, which it subsidises. He added that an expected 21 megawatts that is expected to come on stream in September at the Kingston Power Plant
According to the Guyana Energy Agency’s website, “The Government of Guyana and DELTA Caribbean N.V, signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) in March 2007 for the construction of a 13.5 MW Wind Farm at Hope Beach, ECD.”
The project was supposed to supply power to the grid and was expected to be commissioned in 2010.
The executing company on its website had listed the activity to cost some US$26M.
As it relates to the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project, the Head of State reminded that the country went out to tender, the bids came in but at the time the investors cited the financial crisis.
Jagdeo was adamant however that “by September we have to get definitive word from the investor…they are doing some additional studies.”
He noted that if at that time the investors cannot move forward with the project, “then the State, because it has spent a bit of money, will inherit all of the documents, the drawings, the designs, the environmental permit and everything else which has taken years to put together.”
He said that should that time come “we will have to see some other source of building, this including using some of the funds that we can get from the Low Carbon Development Strategy…Renewable energy is very important in the long run.”
“We have to build that hydro one way or another; we have to do it.”
The project is based on an initial study that was carried out between the years 1974 and 1976 to explore the hydroelectric potential under a grant from the United Nations.
That study was done by Montreal Engineering over the two-year period.
A number of sites were identified, but through a shortlist process, these were eventually trimmed to three “most promising” sites.
Further studies by the developer between 1997 and 2001 related to the demand for power, the economics, environmental, ecological and political impacts of developing each of these sites led to Amaila as the location of choice.
In 1998, Synergy Holdings Inc. joined with Harza Engineering Company (now called MW Harza Global) to fund and perform a detailed feasibility study and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the first Phase of the project.
Between 1999 and 2001, a full feasibility study and EIA was carried out on site including surveying, drilling in excess of 400 meters, and several site visits by Harza engineers to evaluate the drill cores and the physical characteristics of the site and to install river gauging equipment downstream of the falls.
A man-camp on site and an access road crew in excess of 50 personnel worked on this project for several months. Drilling equipment was flown in by helicopter – supplies came in by river and the ATV access road.
Following the on-site investigations and mapping, several alternate designs were looked at and the developers chose a final design that offered the lowest construction cost while maintaining the expandability of the project.
The Amaila site is located on the Kuribrong River; a tributary of the Potaro, and the nearest point of access is the airstrip at Kaieteur Falls on the Potaro River, approximately 15 miles to the south.
An overland trail exists from Kaieteur to Amaila while access is also provided over land by an all-weather road through Tumatumari on the Potaro River and on to Mahdia and Kangaruma
River access along the Potaro-Kuribrong Rivers to the foot of Amaila Falls involves several portages around rapids and waterfalls.
The road from Tumatumari was recently extended to Mahdia/Kangaruma that brings you closer to the site but approximately 30 miles of additional roads will need to be built to the top of Amaila Falls.
In mid-2005, serious talks were restarted between Synergy, the Guyana Power and Light Inc. and the government in an attempt to finally put the project on a fast track development schedule.
Following a series of meetings with Government, an MOU was signed between the developers and Government on May 23, 2006, outlining their agreement to proceed with the development of the Hydropower plant.
The construction process should have commenced in September last when the tender process should have closed but was subsequently extended by President Bharrat Jagdeo, who has publicly committed to building the hydropower station – estimated to cost approximately US$450M – before he demits office.
The fate of the project, at least in the near future, now depends on the extended tender process or should that fail because foreign investment is dwindling, the government commits to building it with taxpayers’ dollars.

Mars
Last edited by Mars

If u check the internet, it can be seen that Guyana does not have the minimum constant wind that could drive the convention turbines. However, there is a system and size of machine that could harness the available winds. The Chinese jus gonna build machines to suit their enviroment and pass it on to Guyana. 

S
Originally Posted by seignet:

If u check the internet, it can be seen that Guyana does not have the minimum constant wind that could drive the convention turbines. However, there is a system and size of machine that could harness the available winds. The Chinese jus gonna build machines to suit their enviroment and pass it on to Guyana. 

 These new  turbines can transform 2 MPH wind speeds into viable output. The lower threshold was 5MPH. The sails are larger, lighter and stronger and built taller to captures a consistent wind pressure  which it transforms that into ample rotational speeds of the generators. It is no different from what we see on hovercrafts where small amounts of air-pressure on the  skirts can lift mega-tonnage crafts ie the one used to cross from Dover to Calais

FM
Last edited by Former Member

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