The government has approved the detailed examination of a proposal by Guyana Wind Farm Incorporated (GWF) for a 26-megawatt wind energy plant at Hope Beach, Public Infrastruc-ture Minister David Patterson disclosed on Monday.
Cabinet, Patterson said, has also approved detailed discussions between Guyana Wind Farm and the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) on a possible Power Purchase Agreement that could be sealed immediately after the talks.
Patterson said that investors have secured their financing for the project, which proposes a US$0.12 fee per kilowatt hour, which is comparative to the US$0.10 per kilowatt hour projected for the now scrapped Amaila Falls Hydropower Project.
Patterson did not elaborate on if the proposal is the exact same one that was presented to the previous administration or if there were changes. He said he would not be disclosing the value of the investment.
In a letter to Stabroek News in June, 2014, then Prime Minister Sam Hinds, who had responsibility for energy, had said GWF had put forward a very attractive proposal that could see Goldwind of China, rated at least third in the world in the establishment of wind farms, setting up a 10×2.5 MW wind farm at Hope Beach at a total cost of about US$42 million.
Goldwind would provide 75% of total financing and take 51% of the equity shares. Hinds said that he was informed that a financing arrangement was made with Republic Bank for loan of US$2 million in June of last year.
Hinds did not indicate specifically why a proposed MoU between GWF and the government had yet to be signed but noted that there were issues that needed to be determined.
“I would like to see an agreement that won’t later create ambiguity to the different sides and so on,” he had said, while hinting that there may be issues with the Power Purchase Agreement that would need to be comprehensively worked out before any agreement was signed.
Lloyd Singh, proprietor of International Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA), is among the investors in GWF.
