An estimated $450M contract was awarded for the supply and installation of a 150KW hydropower plant at the Chiung River at Kato Village, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni).
The US$2,250,880 contract for the design, supply and installation of the plant was awarded to B & J Civil Works under the Ministry of Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
This was disclosed by Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon, who said more details on the project will be provided at a later date.
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).
