Consultations started to resuscitate Moco Moco Hydro Station

Sep 24, 2018 News

The Moco Moco hydro plant

Consultations have started for the resuscitation of Moco Moco hydro plant in Rupununi, Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo), which has been lying dormant for some 16 years.
In July, a consultancy services contract of Euros 133,350 was awarded to BRGM for a geotechnical survey of the existing facilities. This was being financed from funds received through the United Arab Emirates and the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
Mayor of Lethem, Kerry Jarvis confirmed the commencement of the consultation process. He said that the town looks forward to the provision of reliable electricity and the accompanying reduction in terms of cost to consumers. The project will function in conjunction with the IDB-funded solar farm to be constructed very soon and with less dependence on fossil fuels.
Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson has stated that the investigation will be crucial to the revival of the facility. He had pointed out that $2M in loan funding was secured from the IDB.
The Chinese-funded hydropower plant was commissioned on November 22, 1999 and was developed as a run-of-the-river project.
Four years later, the penstock (a sluice for controlling or directing the flow of water) was damaged by a devastating landslide, in July 2003, resulting in a cessation of operations.
Despite several attempts by the former administration, the People Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), it was never rectified. The facility has since been subject to vandalism.
Steps were taken in 2015 by the new administration to have the plant, along with several others, up and running. In early 2016, the government had announced the rehabilitation of plant, which in its current state, was estimated to cost $200M.
Five foreign-based companies submitted bids for the rehabilitation and operation of the facility after the Public Infrastructure Ministry had asked for Expressions of Interest (EoI) in keeping with Government’s plans to develop a ‘Green Economy’.
The EoI was initially published in January 2016 and the submissions were opened on March 31, 2016 at the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) Head Office, Georgetown.
Among the five submissions were CHEA – Centrias Hidreletricas da Amazonia LTDA – ME (Brazil); NCGET (Russia); Torque – EPCM (Barbados) and two from McVantage Products out of the USA.

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