Farfan and Mendes has concluded the installation of solar-powered home lighting systems in 12 interior villages and is on schedule to complete installation of similar facilities in six other villages before year end, under a $240M Inter American Develop-ment Bank Project.
Managing Director of Farfan and Mendes Andrew Mendes told Stabroek Business earlier this week that in securing the contract, the company bested competition from outside. Mendes said that the project, which commenced in June this year, was completed in September, well ahead of the schedule agreed under the contract.
New solar-powered systems were install-ed at Sand Creek, Yupukari, Chenapou, Rockstone, Waipa, Sebai, Red Hill, Hobodia, Santa Aretuk, St. Deny’s, Jawalla and Paeruima. The systems will allow for each receiving home to be lit using two 13-watt energy saver bulbs. A total of 1,200 home lighting systems were installed in the first twelve villages and Mendes explained that a further 242 homes will benefit from the solar installations in the additional six villages.
Farfan and Mendes has been involved in the installation of solar systems for more than ten years. “We have done hundreds of systems around the country,” Mendes said. He added that the particular challenges associated with completing the project had to do mostly with the remoteness of some of the locations and the fact that various modes of transportation had to be used to move equipment to some areas. “The fact that we were able to complete the job ahead of schedule has a great deal to do with the diligence and efficiency of the team that worked with us. Mendes said that in addition to the company’s own seven-member team, it contracted young trainees currently studying at the Government Technical Institute. “We trained them, paid them and they performed admirably. We were able to put down 800 systems in eight villages in less than a month,” he noted.
The project, which may be the single largest exercise of its kind ever undertaken in Guyana, required Farfan and Mendes to source equipment and components from Japan, Germany and the United States. Mendes said that while he was integrally involved in meeting with the overseas suppliers, the actual setting up of the systems was handled entirely by the company’s technical team.
Apart from the installation of the systems, the company also conducted training sessions during which some residents were tutored in the maintenance of the systems. Mendes, however, said that he anticipated no problems with their effective functioning. “It really is a matter of them cleaning the panels. The beneficiaries of the new solar lighting system will be required to pay a small monthly maintenance fee.
Mendes added that that there is a considerable market for solar-powered lighting systems in interior areas of Guyana.
