With renewable energy comprising 71 per cent of French Guiana’s energy matrix, President of the Collectivité territoriale de Guyane, Gabriel Serville, who is currently leading a trade mission to Guyana, has indicated his country’s willingness to lend its expertise to Guyana’s renewable energy efforts.
In an exclusive interview with this publication, Serville explained that renewable energy ranks among the areas of opportunity French Guiana is examining. This is even as a delegation of French businesses and territorial elected officials from French Guiana explore opportunities for investment and bilateral cooperation in Guyana.
Serville, who heads the executive entity of the French Guiana region, noted that when it comes to renewable energy, French Guiana has already developed an extensive renewable energy system. He said that French Guiana would like to share its technological knowledge with Guyana.
“We’re looking to have a good cooperation with Guyana. There are French Guianese companies who are already here looking to invest. And we’re looking to have strong ties and enhance bilateral cooperation,” Serville explained.
“French Guiana is already using as far as 71 per cent of renewable energy out of the total. We’re already using different types of renewable energy. So, we’re quite far when it comes to development and we would like to see that transposed (to Guyana) as well,” he added.
This publication also spoke with the Business Development Officer of renewable energy company HDF Energy, Kriss Nelson. HDF Energy is considered a pioneer in hydrogen power, with regional offices in Australia, Barbados, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa.
The company designs and develops high-power hydrogen power plants that generate stable and firm, non-intermittent, non-polluting renewable energy. Nelson related that her company will be meeting with relevant Guyanese State agencies including the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).
“We are a pioneer in the green hydrogen sector. We do two things: first, we manufacture the key components of our solutions which are called large-scale fuel cells, which turns the green hydrogen that we produce, into electricity that will be stable, continuous, and reliable. Secondly, we also have our own power plant that we developed.”
“And it’s called renew-stable. Why? Because the first source of electricity is solar or wind. Renewable intermittent. And we combine it with long-term storage, hydrogen that we produce during the day. And then during the night, we can produce electricity,” Nelson said.
The result of this, she explained, is 24/7 electricity that is low carbon and reliable. As such, she noted that they are looking for opportunities in Guyana. Nelson noted that while Guyana has a number of solar projects being developed, it is a great opportunity to replicate what French Guiana has been doing with storing energy and address the intermittent factor.
Meanwhile, the delegation from French Guiana has been busy since arriving in Guyana. On Monday, they visited the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Headquarters at Liliendaal to submit an application for membership.
Extensive discussions were also had on tourism, health, environment, and security matters.
Serville, accompanied by his delegation of officials and several heads of companies who came as part of a prospecting mission with Team France Export Guyane, also visited the Guyana Shore Base Incorporated complex. During the visit, the delegation observed the site presentation with great interest, measuring the scale of the investments made and the impact of the site on the Guyanese economy.
There are a number of policy decisions the Government has taken towards realising its renewable energy ambitions. These include the revival of the 165-megawatt Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP), which was one of the promises made by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic in its manifesto. At present, there is interest from several bilateral partners in the project to finance the construction of the project.
The AFHP was the flagship of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). It was expected to deliver a steady source of clean, renewable energy that would have been affordable and reliable, and was envisioned to meet approximately 90 per cent of Guyana’s domestic energy needs while removing dependency on fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, there was a $362.4 million Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded contract that was signed last year for a solar farm at Mahdia, Region Eight, that will benefit close to 3000 residents and significantly reduce the State’s expenditure on heavy fuel oil.
The 0.65MW Mahdia solar farm is being financed through a loan from the IDB, under the Energy Matrix Diversification and Institutional Strengthening of the Department of Energy (EMISDE) programme. There is also a 1.5MW Bartica solar farm, which will cost $625 million and will soon be completed.
