$450M Hydropower Plant for Kato village
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, July 4, 2019
Residents of Kato and surrounding communities in the North Pakaraima, Region 8 will soon benefit from a clean and reliable source of energy with the installation of $450.2M Hydropower Plant in the village.
Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon at today’s post-Cabinet press briefing, explained that the sum covers the design, supply and installation of the 150k Hydropower Plant. B & J Civil Works will be executing the project.
A section of the Kato Waterfalls at the Chiung River.
The hydropower plant will use the Kato Waterfalls at the Chiung River (close to Kato village) to provide electric power to the Kato Secondary School, the village of Kato and the village of Paramakatoi some 18 kilometres away. An electronic facility, as well as transmission lines, will also be installed.
Last year, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson announced that several renewable energy projects involving solar, wind and hydro and amounting to some 30 megawatts would be completed by 2020. These are to be constructed in the three new townships of Bartica, Lethem and Mabaruma, as well as Mahdia and several other hinterland locations.
In addition to Kato, Tumatumari will also benefit from a 2.2-megawatt hydro project; while in a $376M (US$2M) Photovoltaic system will be constructed in Mahdia. In Region 9, funding has been secured to commence the hydro projects at Moco Moco and Kumu.
In Bartica, Region 7, a 1.5-megawatt solar farm, with storage will be constructed at the cost of $794 (US$4M); and a micro-hydropower project of one megawatt will be constructed at Ituribisi, Region 2 with a total investment cost of $1.09Billion (US$5M) while the Hope Beach Wind Farm project remains on the cards.
Meanwhile, in Mabaruma, Region 1, the installation of a 0.4-megawatt solar farm with storage is ongoing with funding of $272M (US$1.3M).
These projects are funded by the Guyana REDD Plus Investment Fund (GRIF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The ventures form part of the government’s effort to provide cheap, renewable and reliable energy to all Guyanese.
Image: Anil Seelall