Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently gave the greenlight to the developers looking to erect the country’s first wind farm, ushering in a project that will inject 25.2 megawatts (MW) of renewable power into Guyana’s energy mix.
In a notice, the regulator said the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted by the developer is in full compliance with the terms and scope set by the EPA in consideration of submissions made by members of the Guyanese public.
“The [Environmental and Social Impact Assessment] ESIA has adequately assessed the potential adverse effects or risks posed by the project, and the Environmental Mitigation Plan contained therein, proposes appropriate and adequate measures to mitigate the same,” the EPA said.
The Hope Wind Farm will be the first substantial utility-scale renewable energy initiative to be implemented in Guyana. It will deliver power directly to the grid of Guyana Power and Light (GPL), the country’s national electricity provider. The power will be enough to power 7,000 homes, project documents indicate.
The project will confirm the promising performance of wind energy, reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and its associated emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and pollutants, and reduce foreign exchange loss due to fuel imports. It is also poised to generate local jobs in construction operation and maintenance of a renewable energy facility.
For the time being, the leases, project rights, assets, and liabilities are owned by Hope Wind Energy Inc. which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hope Energy Development Inc. (HED), a project development company owned by three partners which includes SPI (Denmark and Colombia). SPI is the project developer and key investor, with more than 10 years of experience in Solar and Wind investments in Europe. It is backed by a broad group of Danish and international investors and has linkages to Danish wind industry expertise and financing.
Innova Energy Ltd., Trinidad is also part of the trio and is SPI’s partner in the Southern Caribbean, acting as Project General Manager and a key investor. Total Energy Solutions Inc. Guyana is the partnership’s representative in-country and works as an interface with local stakeholders, while providing support for Guyana based activities and local stakeholder engagements.
OilNOW understands that construction could begin before 2022 ends, with commissioning able to be arrived at as early as the second half of 2023.
Guyana has a diverse clean energy agenda in the works. It includes solar, wind and hydro power. Additionally, the government will implement a Gas-to-Energy project, which will utilise associated natural gas from the Liza field as a transition fuel.
