Dear Editor,
In a letter titled ‘Almost all solar home systems projects were subject to a process of open international bidding,’ in the Stabroek News on July 20, former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds stated “The Amaila Falls project as it was developed by the PPP/C administration remains the most attractive electricity generation project for Guyana. About the best that could be found on first cost, financing cost and average lifetime costs of electrical energy generated.”
I would be extremely grateful if Mr Hinds could provide the analysis or report he used to back up his statement above. I have been trying to get information on the Amaila Falls project and so far I have only been able to find a Sithe Global presentation dated August 2013. That presentation has a lot of unanswered questions that I hope Mr. Hinds could answer.
The questions are as follows:
- Does the US$858 million project cost cover substations also? If yes, how many?
- Is there potential to site any other generators along the proposed transmission route? If yes, what type and where?
- For the first 11 years, GPL is expected to pay US$122 million per year at an equivalent rate of 11 US cents/kWh. This equates to about 1,110 GWh per year at an average demand of 127 MW. However, from GPL’s 2012 annual report, the country’s total generation in that year was 690 GWh which equates to an average demand of about 80 MW. Therefore, in order to pay for Amaila generation the usage and average demand in Guyana would have to increase by about 60%. Is this feasible? How much load is currently served by self-generators that would be willing to take power from GPL when/if the hydro project is completed?
- Does the 11 US cents/kWh include delivery (transmission) costs also or is it just an energy charge? If no, is there an additional delivery charge?
- Is the plant expected to generate year round or will there be periods during the dry season that the plant will have to shut down? If it will be shut down during the year, for how many months will this last?
- Assuming that the hydro will not be able to produce electricity during part of the year, then GPL will have to maintain sufficient generation to serve the load. As a result, it would be very costly to carry a large amount of generation to be used on a part-time basis. Was this factor taken into account in the analysis? This was not shown in the Sithe Global presentation.
- Was any consideration taken into account that central generation is needed close to load centres to provide inertia to the system?
- Can the Amaila site be expanded to add more generators in the future?
- Is there potential to create a continuous year round flow at Amaila to ensure continuous generation? If yes, was this option considered?
This is a huge project that could have major financial implications for the people of Guyana. If there is a decision to go forward with this project all studies should be made available to the general public for their comments, since they will be footing the bill. I would be willing to comment on behalf of the citizens of Guyana free of charge.
Yours faithfully,
Vijay Puran
