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Cheaper, cleaner and Guyanese: What a gas-to-power plant would mean for electricity
Dear Editor,
Right now, Guyanese consumers suffer from the third highest electricity prices in the Caribbean and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has found that heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels is the reason. That goes for the whole of the CARICOM region as well, which suffers some of the world’s highest electricity prices.New natural gas reserves discovered alongside the oil in the Stabroek field could change all that.
The government, in cooperation with ExxonMobil, has proposed piping that gas to a new state-of-the-art power plant onshore.
This would provide a major step towards cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy for Guyanese families within a matter of a few years, if oil production happens without delay. A plant like this would lower costs for consumers. Comparable plants in gas producing countries like Trinidad and Tobago produce power for around $0.04 USD per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and Minister Patterson has said that in Guyana it will be below $0.10 USD/kWh to produce but how low will be determined.
The IMF found that switching to gas could save Guyanese customers up to $29.01 GYD per kWh. If the IMF was right, that would mean customers on the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) grid could see their bills cut. Bottom line: more affordable electricity then what we have today.
Lower costs would make it significantly easier for families to pay their electric bills and for Guyanese businesses to compete internationally. According to the IMF, more Guyanese businesses currently rely on generators for intermittent power than any other country in the CARICOM region.
That means higher costs for them that are eventually passed down to consumers. If GPL can focus on improving the grid and the government invites new business investment close to the power plant, Guyanese businesses will be stronger with lower energy costs.Energy prices are also a critical factor in the success of industries as diverse as sugar refining and mining, and natural gas is, an essential feedstock for creating plastics, textiles, and fertilizers.
A new natural gas fired power plant would be a vast improvement environmentally. According to the International Energy Agency, when burned for power generation natural gas produces 40 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the heavy fuel oil our plants currently burn and almost no particulate emissions. This will help Guyana meet its environmental commitments and achieve goals established in our Green State Development Strategy. Even better, it has a demonstrated ability to work well with renewable power sources of power like wind and solar.
Natural gas plants can cycle on and off quickly, going from zero to full production in response to fluctuating energy needs. This is a critical attribute since clouds can cover the sun or the wind can stop blowing at any time. This rapid flexibility also enables gas to scale back down just as quickly when cleaner renewable sources are available.
This ability to efficiently coordinate with renewable energy sources has been hailed by international agencies like the World Bank, which notes that gas will play an important role in the energy transition and is a “flexible energy source that can help countries make the transition more quickly to renewables and expand access to energy for the poor.”
Gas production in the Stabroek field has one other advantage: it’s ours. No longer would we need to depend on Venezuela and Trinidad to keep our lights on.
High and unstable import prices for fossil fuels are a drag on our economy. With a supply of gas designated for solely domestic energy use, our electric bills will soon be protected from global price shocks.
All these advantages can only be realized if this discovery is quickly and properly capitalized on.
.Andrew McBean
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