Regional Chairman says Mabaruma solar fa

-CEO of hinterland power progra

used to run the generator set utilized by the Town, as the only “significant” feature of the project.

“The only thing significant that will come out of it is, we will have a reduction in the amount of diesel being consumed by the generator set because it will help to take off some of [the] load on the grid through the hybrid system, which will see a decrease in the amount of diesel being used on a daily basis,” Ashley said.

He also shared that he had spoken with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Hinterland Electrification Programme, Horace Williams, whom he claims confirmed that the system may not provide the said number of hours which would have been previously announced.

“He, too, confirmed that the system may not provide that amount of hours of electricity, and because of what I am seeing here, I would have asked him to correct and give guidance to the necessary persons, whether it’s the municipality or so, as to what would be the work coming out of the solar farm. That is where our concern is, because residents of Mabaruma are of the view that there will be a drastic increase in the electricity provided and that will not be so,” the Chairman said.

“While we at the RDC fully support the idea of going green and using renewable energy, we also like that when a system is put in place, that it be a system that is holistic and that will achieve the objective of why it is being established,” he added.

However, Williams, who also spoke with this newspaper, maintained that once the solar farm is up and running, it will be able to provide the 17 hours of electricity to residents in Mabaruma. He noted, too, that once the 17 hours of electricity supply is achieved, additional steps will be taken to increase the supply to allow for a 24-hour supply, which he said, has always been the ultimate goal.

“We will eventually get to 24 hours but initially we will be moving to supply 17 and then increase to 24