Dear Editor,
Reference is made to a statement issued on behalf of the Management of Classic International Hotel by Ras Leon Saul and published in the March 14, 2018 editions of Kaieteur News and Stabroek News, under the headlines ‘Delay in permission…Berbice hotel threatens to dismantle wind turbine, ship it back to India’ and ‘Government has not responded to offer to supply national grid from wind turbine’, respectively.
The Ministry of Public Infra-structure (MPI), and by extension the Government of Guyana (GoG), applauds the proprietor of Classic International Hotel, Mr Shamnarine Narine, for his supposed interest in pushing for a “Green State” and in contributing to the national grid.
However, it is disappointing to read Mr Narine’s claim of non-responsiveness on the part of the GoG when several items of correspondence from different agencies within MPI were sent to him. In fact, I had met with Mr Narine in the past concerning this matter.
In April 2017, the Ministry and its energy-related agencies were surprised to read reports in the media of the launch of Mr Narine’s hotel and wind turbine. We were also surprised at his mention of a request to MPI, the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), or the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) for its installation and use, since the wind turbine was designed, procured, and installed without our knowledge. Nonetheless, we replied shortly afterwards and indicated that, under the law, any person can self-generate.
However, we had said the law restricts persons from supplying power to another, except in cases where a licence is granted by the minister. We also invited Mr Narine to meet with us to clarify any questions and to provide whatever assistance we reasonably could.
In September 2017, Mr Narine wrote GPL to introduce his wind turbine which, according to him, can generate 350 KVA of power, but of which only 20 per cent can be utilised by his hotel.
On October 17, 2017, Mr Narine briefed me via letter on his 300 kW wind turbine which would become operational at the end of the said month. In this correspondence, Mr Narine shared that only 50 kW of the generation capacity was required by the hotel and, as a result, he would be willing to offer the excess 250 kW to the national grid. According to Mr Narine, the wind turbine had been procured with the intention of powering a housing development project. However, this project did not materialise, thereby leaving Mr Narine with the underutilisation of power and the issue of storing the excess power.
However, GPL’s existing frameworks cover the connection to its grid of either independent power producers (IPPs) supplying 10 MW and more or businesses supplying 1.5 MW and above. As a result, Mr Narine was advised that it was not possible at this time for an individual to connect to the grid unless the supply met the minimum of 1.5 MW. He was further advised
that GPL was limited due to ongoing development of a policy, and legal and technical frameworks to permit and guide supply that is less than 1.5 MW and the sensitive technical issues affecting any supply of power of an intermittent nature (such as wind or solar) to the grid.
Nonetheless, we agreed to examine Mr Narine’s proposal with GPL with the objective of identifying and addressing the technical issues while we develop the framework for intermittent power supply below 1.5 MW to the grid.
On January 22, 2018, a letter from Mr Narine to President David Granger, stated that the wind turbine could not operate without a connection to GPL’s grid, as per the advice of engineers from India who came to Guyana upon Mr Narine’s invitation, for the turbine’s commissioning. On the said date, Mr Narine wrote to me, urging the connection of the turbine to the grid since his invited engineers were present. On January 25, 2018, he later requested a licence to supply power to the grid.
Around early February 2018, I met with Mr Narine on the subject and agreed to discuss with GPL the possibility of accommodating the request, even on the basis of a pilot project. Internally, it was determined to await the new CEO of GPL to receive his input in the matter.
It therefore becomes clear that Mr Narine had been more than kept in the loop concerning this matter, from April 2017 to as recently as February 2018.
While the public may be anxious to seize the opportunity of solar and wind energy and to connect to the grid to save on the cost of energy storage, the complexity of utility size generation, transmission, and distribution of power – a complexity which is further compounded by the weaknesses of GPL’s grid and the sensitivity of intermittent supply – requires judicious adherence to feasibility studies and grid interconnection processes which are typically detailed and costly, but which are necessary to ensure a reliable and stable supply of electricity and the safety of the grid.
Furthermore, the Government of Guyana commends all private citizens and business owners who are willing to move towards the use of renewable energy. However, we wish to urge those who are interested in supplying power to GPL’s grid to first check with GPL to determine whether policies and technical and legal frameworks exist to accommodate such requests.
Yours faithfully,
David Patterson, MP
Minister of Public Infrastructure
