Guyana prepares 1.5 MW solar park

The $2.7 million solar plant will help reduce fuel costs and the nation’s carbon footprint, according to Prime Minister Mark Phillips.

The International Renewable Energy Agency estimated Guyana had 8 MW of grid-connected solar generation capacity at the end of 2020.

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Guyana is set to take control of a GYD 600 million ($2.73 million), 1.5 MW solar project in six weeks' time as part of an effort to diversify its energy mix.

Mark Phillips, prime minister of the South American nation, paid a site visit to the solar field in Batica a week ago and told his government's Department of Public Information website the project was 90% complete and would be handed over by June 1.

The installation is being constructed by the local business of Trinidadian equipment supplier Farfan & Mendes and the Caribbean unit of German solar developer Soventix at a town near the confluence of the Essequibo and Mazaruni rivers.

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The project is being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank, a multilateral lender for Latin America and the Caribbean, as part of a program to strengthen Guyana's Department of Energy and the nation's generation mix. It will feed power into the grid operated by state-owned utility Guyana Power and Light.

The Department of Public Information reported 95% of the project's workers are Guyanese. Under Guyana's Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030, solar generation and battery storage will be used to meet electricity demand in rural areas for the next five years as part of a plan which will rely on natural gas and hydro to power urban centers.

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