Senior Minister with responsibility for finance, Dr. Ashni Singh on Monday condemned what he believes is the return of a misinformation campaign being waged against the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project by certain elements in the media.
The Minister said citizens must bear in mind that the project was subject to extremely detailed studies and analysis by international technical experts and was even examined by international development agencies and bilateral partners such as Norway. In fact, the official recalled that the APNU+AFC regime in 2015 had commissioned a study to be done on the project by a Norwegian Consultancy Agency, Norconsult. Dr. Singh recalled that the very company concluded that the Amaila Falls project was the best option for Guyana to transition to clean renewable energy.
Despite the findings of the foregoing report as well as other key pieces of analysis, Dr. Singh said he is disappointed to see the resumption of the campaign of misinformation which aims to frustrate development as long as the PPP/C is in office.
The senior official noted that the crusade of mistruth, which came in the form of a series of articles, started particularly after the conclusion of the International Energy Conference on February 18, 2022 where government’s representative and former head of NICIL, Winston Brassington had delivered a presentation on the project to hundreds of attendees. He categorically stated that the articles that followed however are either “fabrications, erroneous, or lacking in balance and objectivity.”
Expounding in this regard, Dr. Singh pointed out that in the February 22 edition of the Kaieteur News, an article was published with the headline: “GPL liable when Amaila Falls run dry”—Winston Brassington.
The minister emphatically stated that the above was never said by Brassington.
He said, “Winston Brassington referred to hydrology risk being assumed by GPL, as off-taker, aposition reviewed and supported by consultants. No reasonable extrapolation can equate the KN headline to what was stated by Mr. Brassington. The fact is Amaila will have a 23 KM2 reservoir to hold water and this reservoir allows the hydro optimized delivery of energy on an annual basis. Secondly, dating back to 2012, all parties considered the hydrology assumption that Amaila can deliver 1,050 GWH energy on average per annum, a reasonable number (if not conservative).”
Dr. Sing further stated, “These numbers were relied on by the Inter-American Development Bank in their due diligence in 2012. By way of illustration, at 165 MW, without factoring hydrology risks, the project can generate as much as 1,445 GWh, at full capacity. Assuming 1,050 GWH/annum, assumes a capacity utilization of 72%. It is at this capacity, that the price of 7.7 cents/kWh is calculated over a 20-year period. In some years, there may be more than 1,050 GWH generated; in others, it could be lower.”
Under all scenarios, the Senior Minister of Finance said Amaila delivers a significant reduction in power generation costs and a minimum annual level of energy. He said Amaila, in essence, is a clean renewable project.
Dr. Singh said he therefore urges all media outlets to be responsible when reporting on matters of national interest.
