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
- 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.
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.
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.