Dear Editor,
In the SN of July 10 under the caption `Need for gas project comes under scrutiny at scoping meeting’ you stated that, “ExxonMobil and the EPA were yesterday buffeted with questions at a public meeting as to why a gas-to-shore energy project was being undertaken when renewable fuels could provide the same output without damaging the environment and worsening climate change”.
I was present at the meeting and was disappointed that a number of persons were comparing Solar Power projects cost to the proposed gas-to-shore project cost. It is obvious that they were not aware of the fact that Solar Power is an intermittent source of power and that it has a capacity factor of between 10 and 25% depending on the location.
On the Guyana Energy Agency website, https://gea.gov.gy/solar/, it is stated that “As at 2018, the total installed capacity for Solar PV in Guyana is 4.63 MW with an estimated annual generation of 7.16 GWh”.
Using these figures, the capacity factor is (7.16 GWh x 1000MW) / (4.63 MW x 24 hours X365 days) X 100% = 17.65%.
Their argument was that Solar Projects in the USA were costing US dollars one million per MW while the gas-to-shore project would cost three times more or three million US dollars per MW.
The fact of the matter is that if we were to use the maximum capacity factor of Solar of 25%, the one MW solar farm would only produce a third (33%) of energy required compared to the gas-to-shore project, if a 75% capacity factor is used. This is the current capacity factor of the GPL Power Generation Plants. It means therefore that if Guyana were to install a 250 MW Solar Farm(s) at a cost of 250 million US dollars, there would still be need for fossil fuel plants to supply the other two thirds (66%) of the power required for the remaining of the day and night.
One could argue that the Solar power could be stored for use in the period when the plant is not producing at its maximum and at nights. However, that would mean installing an additional two 250 MW Solar Farm(s) and purchasing storage batteries (250 MW X 16 hours) 4,000 MWh. The two additional solar farms would add another 500 million US dollars to the project and the cost of thebatteries would be prohibited. I say this because according to the US Energy Information Administration; https://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/electricity/batterystorage/pdf/battery_storage. pdf
At the end of 2018, 869 megawatts (MW) of power capacity, representing 1,236 megawatthours (MWh) of energy capacity, of large-scale battery storage was in operation in the United States.
Editor, in the short term, Guyana needs to replace its aging heavy fuel oil operating plants with a more economical combine cycle plant using the available natural gas which is currently being flared by ExxonMobil. This would have an immediate impact on the environment by reducing the emissions currently emitted by the GPL’s Heavy Fuel Oil plants and from the flaring of excess gas.
Also, in the short and medium term, Guyana should add renewables such as Solar Power. I have my doubts about Wind Power in Guyana, given that we are located in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). In the medium and long term, Guyana needs to develop it Hydropower potential and take advantage of its location in the ICTZ.
Yours truly
Tara Singh
