‘Green’ power proposals sought for Bartica

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure is inviting proposals from power producers interested in designing and developing a generation system to produce electricity from renewable sources to power Bartica.

“Consistent with the Government of Guyana’s plans to ‘green’ Bartica, the MPI is soliciting competitive proposals from suitable firms, as an Independent Power Producer, to design and develop a generation system utilizing an appropriate renewable energy technology, or combination of technologies, under a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer structure to supply electricity to the Bartica grid, under a negotiated and agreed Power Purchase Agreement,” the ministry said in an ad in the Sunday Stabroek yesterday.

The ministry noted that the Guyana Power & Light Inc (GPL) is the electricity service provider in Bartica and the electricity supply in the Region Seven community is currently produced exclusively by diesel-powered thermal generators.   The peak demand in Bartica was 1.8 MW as of December 2015, with an energy consumption of approximately 11,760 MWh annually.

The ministry said proposals for the generation system shall utilize one or more of the following eligible renewable resources: solar energy, wind energy, hydropower energy, bio-mass energy, waste-to-energy, and tidal energy. It added that the facility shall produce at least 2,140 MWh of energy per annum, with up to 1.5 MW in capacity.

President David Granger has said Bartica will be the first ‘green’ town in Guyana. “…By a green town I mean that you must look at your energy, stop bringing in diesel and gasoline, let us use wind and sun power…but we have to adopt green energy and Bartica must be Guyana’s first green town,” he had said last year.

The Government Information Agency had reported that Granger said the use of Styrofoam and plastic must be minimised while major attention should be given to proper solid waste disposal.

“So by being a green economy Bartica will renew itself, sustain itself, and not damage the environment as I see happening now”, Granger had said.