GPL’s grid to be boosted with Hope Wind Farm by 2020

─ 10 to 16 megawatts to be generated

─ 7,000 homes to be powered

─ will result in fuel import savings of $1Billion

 

By Shaquille Bourne

 

DPI, Guyana, Saturday, June 8, 2019

The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated’s (GPL Inc.) power grid is set to be boosted by 2020, with the construction of a Wind Farm at the village of Hope, on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD).

At a stakeholder meeting hosted on Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), participants were briefed on the impact of the ground-breaking project.

Leading the discussions was Project General Manager for Hope Energy Development (HED), Dr. John Sydow who stated, “we are looking at four wind turbines at Hope Beach. That will supply about 7 per cent of all of GPL’s megawatt hours they are distributing. With 40 machines, you would satisfy about 60 per cent of all of GPL’s needs without requiring any energy storage.”

After detailed presentations on the impacts of the project on the community, the Project General Manager informed stakeholders that the proposed Wind Farm Project is in compliance with local and international noise level regulations.

“The residents, sleeping at nights, will not notice the wind farm noise, because it is already less than the noise that is already there”, Dr. Sydow explained. “The noise that is there, we measured it. It’s crickets, frogs, winds in the palm trees that they have around their houses and the general noise that you always have in a community. It’s not that noisy,” he added.

These impact tests were conducted at the Hope Secondary School, located some 420 metres from the proposed project site.

One of the concerns raised by participants during the open discussion session was whether the Hope Wind Farm would result in mangrove degradation along the shoreline. In response, Dr. Sydow firmly noted, “we are only going to look at the areas covered by grass. We don’t want to chop down any mangroves, and we shouldn’t have to; and if we do, it would only be temporary to lay some equipment down and that’s the very fringe where you have very short trees. They’re almost six-foot in height.”

Other concerns raised by the stakeholders were the impact of the wind farm on bird species, erosion of land alongside the canal where the project is set to begin, and the involvement of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) in both the mapping and leasing of the proposed project site.

Dr. Sydow committed to working with the GLSC and assured that an environmental impact assessment will be done to ensure the protection of wildlife.

The Hope Wind Farm Project initially began in 2001, but was halted due to GPL’s lack of the infrastructure needed at the time. The project is capable of supplying 7,000 homes with clean electricity, leading to fuel savings of 14.5 million litres per year. Additionally, 30 to 40 construction jobs are expected to be created, and $1Billion yearly will be saved in fuel imports.

This project will allow the Coalition Government to Continue to work towards upholding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7, which seeks to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”.

 

Images: Abike Barker