Substantial hydrological data collected but insufficient for hydropower development in Guyana

In a missive which appeared in SN on October 12, Engineer Gonsalves elucidated his participation in the intrigues involved in the construction of an access road which he labelled Section 7 to the proposed Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) on a tributary of the Potaro River. The PPP/C Government under President Jagdeo had never conducted a feasibility study to determine whether AFHP was economically viable but identified it as a replacement for the existing aged fossil fuel based power generation system. There was no design for AFHP, just sketches with guesstimates for power output, system reliability and affordable energy for all Guyanese. Putting the,” horse before the cart,” the PPP/C Government decided to use its resources to start funding the project by awarding a contract to

Fip Motilal, - a US citizen - to construct access road Section 7 to the AFHP site to facilitate the transportation of materials and equipment for its construction. Lack of an adequate design, adverse weather conditions, equipment breakdowns and other factors (since in Guyana there is more in the mortar than the pestle!!!), construction fell behind the project’s completion schedule and the contractor was fired.

Several other contractors were awarded contracts to complete the road but for one reason or the other they all failed in their contractual obligation and were also fired. In the lull there was a change in Government and the new PNC+AFC Government canned AFHP and all its activities were halted. In Yr. 2020 there was another Government change and Dr. Jagdeo became Vice-President of the PPP/C. Without much ado he resuscitated AFHP development and in the absence of any feasibility study vis-a-vis wind, solar and gas as possibly alternate economically viable sources of electricity for Guyana. Before any determination could be made as to the power output of AFHP, reliable data has to be obtained and analyzed for design purpose and costing. These data include but are not limited to river flows, rainfall, evapo-transpiration and geo-technical investigations for the tunnels, dams and power plant. Some of this data should be available in the Government’s archives but not enough for any meaningful design and cost estimate. Due to climate change, hydropower plants on the Colorado River in the USA, the Parana River in Argentina and the Amazon River in Brazil and elsewhere have been operating well below their designed capacities because of insufficient water for power generation.

Another expensive expenditure will be the power transmission from AFHP site to the coastland via Linden (for an aluminum smelter) as its route will have to be through dense jungle and Amerindian lands involving complex environmental issues which have to be resolved before any external financing is obtained. Finally, there are many studies on hydropower development in Guyana and a site on the Upper Mazuruni River was identified as having the largest hydropower potential. Engineer

Sam Ramsahoye with whom Hydrologist Maurice Veecock worked and later superseded was Guyana’s most knowledge person involved in Guyana’s hydropower development. Other contributors in this field were Ken Potter and John Bassier, Hydrologists whom during their tenure collected substantial data on rainfall, rivers and streams flow data but not enough for any meaningful development of hydropower development in Guyana.