A Norwegian company, Norconsult, has been selected to review the financial model of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP), the results of which would determine whether the controversial project will go ahead.
“A decision was recently made to utilize Norway’s largest consultancy firm Norconsult for this review. With over 50 years of international experience in power generation and energy supply engineering, the Ministry of Finance and Cabinet considered it the best option for an objective re-assessment,” a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said. It noted that the decision follows up on one taken by Guyana and Norway in Paris, France, in December 2015 to conduct a review of the project’s current financial model, which the government believes could shackle many generations of Guyanese to debt.
Stabroek News reported last month that while Norway had identified an international consultant to undertake the review, the Government of Guyana had requested that three nominees be submitted from which it would select one to undertake the project.
Both sides are awaiting the study on the contentious AFHP to make a definitive decision on how to proceed. The AFHP was the flagship project of the five-year forests protection partnership –which ended last year – between Guyana and Norway in which Guyana could earn up to US$250 million in performance-based payments based on an independent verification of Guyana’s deforestation and forest degradation rates and progress on REDD+ enabling activities. REDD+ is a global initiative that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Norway had transferred US$80 million to the Inter-American Development Bank for the project but the David Granger administration has said that as currently configured, “it would not only be irresponsible, but a downright criminal act of deception,” if government proceeded with Amaila.
Norway had previously urged the APNU+AFC administration to consider the merits of the AFHP and indicated that Guyana stands to lose the US$80 million earmarked for the project if it fails to come up with a plan for “transformational” renewable energy sources that can be realised in the next few years. It had strongly supported the project under the previous PPP/C administration.
Subsequently, both sides agreed to a final, independent review of the project.
According to its website, Norconsult is Norway’s largest and one of the leading multidisciplinary consultancy firms in the Nordic region. The company says that annually, it performs thousands of projects for public and private clients both home and abroad.
In terms of energy, it says that it is one of the leading consulting engineering companies in power generation, energy supply and water resources planning with 80 years of experience in Norway and 50 years of international operations. According to its website, Norconsult has participated in nearly 80 percent of Norwegian hydropower development.
“We have developed a particularly broad understanding of the whole power system, from production through transmission to the consumer,” it says. It added that the company’s services range from front end consulting and feasibility studies through detailed engineering and contracting, construction management and commissioning. “We can also help in the production phase of research, documentation, reassessments and upgrades of existing facilities,” the website says.
Meantime, the Ministry of the Presidency also reported that Georgetown and Oslo are preparing for a visit next month by a Norwegian delegation comprising members from the Ministry of Climate and Environment and Norway’s Development Agency (NORAD).
“The visit is expected to deepen the partnership and collaboration to complete outstanding deliverables of the MoU that the new government inherited. The Guyana team is actively preparing for this eagerly anticipated visit and all stakeholders will be engaged throughout this process,” the report said.
It added that Guyana and Norway have been actively engaged in the strengthening of the agreement between the two countries to support Guyana’s low carbon and green growth focus. It noted that the David Granger administration, having welcomed the first delegation from Norway in January 2016, has reaffirmed its commitment to the partnership’s continuity and growth; a position that was echoed by the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Brazil and Guyana, Aud Marit Wiig when she visited the country.
“A number of developments have since fortified the connection between the two countries with the cordial exchange of letters between the new Ministers of Norway and Guyana as Norway has undergone some internal Ministerial changes at its Ministry of Climate and Environment, and Guyana has formally established the Ministry of Natural Resources,” GINA said.
