Review, update of energy policy underway

Nov 18, 2015 News

At a meeting recently held, between Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman and a team from the Commonwealth Secretariat at the Ministry of Natural Resources, it was revealed that the group has begun reviewing and updating Guyana’s

Governance Minister, Raphael Trotman

current energy policy in an effort to govern the operations of oil companies exploiting the country’s reserves.
It was also disclosed that they are in the process of reviewing the legislation of the Petroleum Act to see how those can be amended. They are currently preparing to submit a document to the Government.
Trotman said that by next year, legislation is going to be introduced into parliament for the strengthening of the managing processes of the oil sector.
In relation to the oil sector, he said that the Government is shifting towards having a stand-alone agency for oil, so that it would not be lumped into a basket with other minerals, but is given its own institution and arrangement for its management.
Trotman also commented on the country’s energy plan which was created by the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA).
He said that armed with this, “it is the Government’s intention to have a minimum of 30 percent of the country’s energy generated by renewable energy by the year 2030. Given the drive that we are on now, it is likely that it could be even more than 30 per cent.”
He stated that, “Government had decided to not pursue the Amaila Falls project, as on a cost benefit analysis, we did not feel that it was going to give us what we wanted. But we are right now actively engaged in many discussions about solar, wind and water as alternatives.”
Prominent accountant and lawyer Christopher Ram, in an article in 2013, said that the Strategic plan prepared by the GEA, suffers from a number of defects.
“It is no more than a narrative of what appears to be an internal non-binding document; the targets are loose, making any attempt at measurement, control and management virtually impossible.”
Ram added that while the elements in the plan are a standard wish list in any energy policy, it is not an energy policy, and that is what is being called for.