Ministry of Public Infrastructure explains Region One solar farm

Oct 17, 2019 News

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure is refuting the claims that were published in another section of the media on Monday that ‘Stalled Mabaruma solar farm project being reclaimed by forest- Region One Chairman’.
Mr. Horace Williams, Chief Executive Officer of the Hinterland Electrification Company Incorporated (HECI), on Monday reported to the Ministry that the Mabaruma solar farm has not been functional to date due to defective works that was done by the contractor.
In 2017, the contract was awarded to a German company to build a 400KW solar farm. The works were said to be completed by 2018. Unfortunately, due to a number of consequential factors- most significantly, severe weather conditions causing damage to the electrical infrastructure- the timeframes were not met.
Mr. Williams pointed out that once the structural aspect was completed the installation and testing aspect commenced to verify the equipment’s performance when it was discovered that the systems were not working as required.
The Ministry was engaged by the contractor about the performance of the systems, but was reluctant to carry out further works to rectify the issues.
Mr. Williams said, “We ended up in a dispute with the contractor about whose responsibility it is to replace these items following the lightning strike. We concluded that the contractor was responsible because the contract stipulated that they were supposed to provide equipment to safeguard against these things.”
He emphasised that the Government Electrical Inspectorate conducted a test on the grounding of lightning protection systems and found that these did not meet the specifications. As a consequence, he said the company accepted that the contractor failed to meet the terms of the contract, which was subsequently terminated in September 2019, despite numerous efforts to amicably resolve the matter.
The CEO noted that the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) in collaboration with HECI is working to replace the damaged transformer. He highlighted that he posited bids have already been invited for the supply of the transformer; additionally proposals are soon to be invited to complete the outstanding works on the solar farm.
The cost of this solar farm is $227,706,890 and not $264M as is being peddled by the Chairman of Region One.
Once completed, the project will benefit thousands of residents living in Mabaruma. The Government is committed to seeing this project through to its completion for the comfort and development of Mabaruma.

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