Following claims made by Energy Technologist, Alfred Bhulai that a solar plant would be a cheaper alternative for the planned Gas-to-Shore project at Wales, West Bank Demerara, Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has come to the fore to note that the suggestion is utterly impossible.
Bhulai had claimed that he supplied evidence of the feasibility of solar power to the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), which proves that it is a cheaper solution to the Wales project. However, the government seemed to be sitting on the document. Jagdeo noted that he had not seen any document, adding that it would be impossible to have a 300-megawatts solar facility to replace the Wales project.
He clarified that he is not against solar power, however, a facility of such nature would be lacking baseload power which refers to the minimum amount of electric power needed to be supplied to the electrical grid at any given time. He said, “The issue has been always baseload for utility-scale supply. Not for households. We never fought against household solar panels. People should do that and put up their heater and everything to try to cut their bill. When a utility has to supply power. It’s a different thing than when the household which is intermittent”.
Jagdeo further noted that the facility would not have the storage capacity for 300 megawatts of power, adding that “first of all to store 300 megawatts of power, it’s almost impossible now. And 24 hours power to be stored at that price that there are saying, a three cents per kilowatt hour, it’s impossible”.
Criticisms of the Gas-to-Shore project were also made by opposition member and former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, who claimed that the government is wasting over US$450 million in power generation investments as it rushes towards the development of the Wales gas-to-shore project. He said that the government would have to “park” all of the units that have been purchased thus far for electricity supply, whilst still having to repay for them.
However, the Vice President was quick to dismiss Patterson’s claims and clarified that the investments would not be wasted, as the units would be used as reserves. He cited the lack of reserves as a major cause of blackouts in Guyana. He said with the Wales project and a reserve, blackouts would be minimal.
