Hybrid solar-diesel project enters Guyana permitting pipeline

Plans for a solar park in Guyana with energy storage and two diesel generators for backup power have been submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The 5.8MW Loo Creek plant will cost just under US$10mn and take 14 months from land preparation to startup, according to the developer, Georgetown-based Caiman Industries, Environmental.

An estimated 40 acres next to the Soesdyke Linden highway, some 20km north of Linden, would be cleared for the park, which envisions supplying anyone within a 10km radius and that could eventually be connected to a power grid when one becomes available in the area.

In a document, Caiman said it has only contacted Guyana Power and Light (GPL) to notify them of the project, and although the utility was “favorable” to the idea, it said that the area does not currently support enough population for GPL.

The developer plans to contact the Office of the Prime Minister, the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission and the Loo Creek national and municipal councils in the coming months.

“Being as this is the first hybrid solar farm of its size to be proposed in Guyana there will be obstacles and gaps,” according to Caiman, which sees power transmission as the largest concern.

The project summary filed with the EPA is available here and in the Documents box in the upper right corner of the screen.

GPL currently has a call underway to develop utility-scale solar capacity and associated battery energy storage that drew eight groups. A GPL official told BNamericas that the tender is in the final stages of the evaluation process.

Most of Guyana’s electricity comes from fuel oil-fired power plants with renewables limited to small-scale, off-grid units.

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