Guyana Has Huge Potential For Hydropower

• There is an untapped potential for Guyana to exploit its natural waterways to bring on stream a renewable source of energy through hydropower, International Environmental Adviser, Former Minister of Climate and the Environment, and Former Minister of International Affairs of Norway, Erik Solheim has said. The former Norwegian Minister was addressing a panel discussion held in Georgetown at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
• “Guyana has a huge hydropower potential which is untapped. We worked on that in the past; I understand that you tried to revive that, and we hope that can happen because hydropower is still the most important renewable power in the world,” he said, citing the efforts to bring new life to the country’s flagship Amaila Falls Hydropower (AFHP) station.
• Officials in Guyana had announced plans to construct a hydropower station. Kuribrong, Amaila River/Basin in Potaro-Siparuni (Region 8), was identified as the project site. Officials had posited that there was evidence to prove that the Amaila Falls project, when originally tabled in 2013, was a viable one that would have garnered long-term benefits for Guyana, but there was immense pushback that led to the scrapping of the project.
• Later in 2023, it was announced that the government would revive the project. In October of that year, they invited Revised Requests for Proposals (RFP) under a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model for the Amaila Falls Hydro Project.
• Solheim, pointed out that hydropower will play the role of the battery. “Sun is not shining all the time; wind is not blowing all the time. But then you use hydropower as a pump storage; as a battery for solar and wind.” He expressed his support for and optimism about the project being executed.
• The project, which has the potential to produce 165 million watts (MW), was among plans, with the support of Norway, to put in place renewable energy sources.

(Source: Guyana Chronicle)