Brazilian and Barbadian companies are among five bidders for rehabilitation work on the Moco-Moco Hydropower plant in Region Nine.
A release from the Ministry of Public infrastructure (MPI) yesterday named the bidders as ‘CHEA – Centrias Hidreletricas da Amazonia LTDA – ME’ (Brazil), ‘NCGET’ (Russia), ‘Torque – EPCM’ (Barbados) and two from ‘McVantage Products’ (USA). The ‘Expression of Interest’ (EOI) was published in January 2016 and the submissions were opened on March 31, 2016 at the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), the release said.
Under a Build, Own, Operate, Transfer framework, power will be supplied to the Lethem Power Company grid under a negotiated and agreed Power Purchase Agreement, the release said.
The bid opening process was facilitated by Seema Greene, Head of the Administrative and Human Resource Departments of GEA, and Valmiki Ramtahal, GEA’s Internal Auditor. It was attended by representatives of three of the bidding companies: CHEA – Centrias Hidreletricas da Amazonia LTDA –ME, Torque – EPCM, and McVantage Products. The EOIs will be evaluated by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
The request for EOIs came after the APNU+AFC government identified Moco Moco, Kato and Tumatumari as priority sites for small hydropower systems.
“Guyana will seek to construct and/or promote the construction of small hydro systems at suitable locations across the country. Government also plans to construct and/or promote the construction of small hydro systems in areas such as Moco Moco, Kato and Tumatumari, and will power all of the new townships, starting with Bartica, using alternative energy sources,” government said in its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) which was submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Both Moco Moco and Tumatumari have hydropower plants but the one at Moco Moco was damaged by a landslide in 2003 and never fixed. It has since been severely vandalized.
