Dear editor,
I recently wrote that the UN was dead wrong to suggest solar power as a better source of power for Guyana than natural gas. Even some of my friends questioned my conclusion, that for Guyana natural gas and hydro power will be better for our development than solar power. I also have reservations about the efficacy of wind power here, but since I have no direct evidence in the matter, I will not venture into that area.
But here is my evidence on solar power which I had access to as the Vice Chairman of the Guyana Sugar Corporation. “The solar power installation at GuySuCo’s Head Office is a wholly state funded project, through the Guyana Energy Agency. It is a 133 kW (peak) grid-tie installation installed at a cost of G$41,347,149. The system has no power storage whatsoever, e.g. batteries that would nearly triple the cost to G$120 million, thus the energy must be consumed immediately when produced. Accordingly, when the power generated exceeds the amount required by the connected load, the excess power generated is fed into the grid. Similarly, if the power generated is less than the power required by the load, the shortfall is drawn from the grid.”
“The sizing of the facility was based on energy assessment of the Head Office building when it was located at LBI.
Since relocation to LBI, the energy requirement of the Head Office building has reduced to below 50% of the previous assessment, mainly through the replacement of old inefficient air conditioners with high-efficiency inverter units, and the use of LED lights. Consequently, the power consumed from the solar facility would have been less than 50% of its rated capacity. In light of this, coupled with the fact that GPL does not offer any compensation for power fed into the grid, a decision was taken to feed power to MMD and ISD building from the solar power facility as well. The combined energy consumption of the three buildings averages 24,500 kWh per month while the power generated from the solar system averages 12,000 kWh per month.”
The above was the write up on the installation using purely estimations and very little else. The actual average daily generation from 2020 to now is estimated to be about 40% of the installed capacity, whilst no solar system is 100 percent efficient, they were expecting [given our 100 inches of rainfall per year and overcast skies I have alluded to] that around a 60% efficiency could have been achieved, it is not! It is much less, pointing clearly to the fact that for you to have solar power as a primary and reliable and economical system in Guyana, is probably not going to happen.
However, given our huge blackout record to date, I have installed at my home a battery supported stand by system. It is built on 4 large Lithium Ion batteries [200 amps @48 volts] and an inverter which takes in the GPL power and acts like a whole house uninterruptable power system. When the blackout comes it seamlessly switches to the battery and runs your house for several hours and when GPL power is restored it switches back to GPL and charges the battery until the next blackout comes. No groping around in the dark, outside in the rain starting those very noisy diesel or gasoline stand by generators, at least I hope that no one has these things inside their house, no going to the gas station at whatever intervals purchasing gasoline or diesel or engine oil, no storing of these highly flammable substances on your premises, and everything is inside the house the batteries and the inverter, so no extra security is needed to operate it.
As usual we don’t seem to have any regulations about the noise levels or location these stand by generators must have, your neighbour could be, and does in many cases, blow his exhaust into your premises without any statutory need to be more careful. Anyway, I have been amazed at how efficient this thing has worked and have been most happy to shelve the small generator I was using and all of the problems it brings.
I have not bought the solar panels yet, since for me this is just a standby system so far. And it is very convenient, noiseless and automatic, so much so, that I am not even aware that there is a blackout. At least we are benefiting in this way from the advances in solar technology. And most surprisingly it was very much cheaper than installing a diesel stand -by generator since all of the equipment was purchased duty free.
Sincerely,
Tony Vieira
