Future energy projects will fail if not affordable - Expert warns Guyana

Future energy projects will fail if not affordable – Expert warns Guyana

Feb 20, 2022 News

“Nobody is green when you are red. So if you are losing money, you are not going to be green. It doesn’t matter if you go to very sustainable projects that are not affordable, they will fail. They have to be affordable.”

By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – The curtains have come down on the inaugural International Energy Conference and Expo which was hosted by Guyana but not before participants were warned by experts that future energy projects must be affordable or face failure.

Regional Product Director for General Electric (GE), Mr. John Ingham

The warning was sounded by Mr. John Ingham, the Regional Product Director for General Electric (GE), an American multinational conglomerate, which is a world energy leader in providing equipment, solutions and services across the energy value chain from generation to consumption.
He told Guyana during the conference, in the presence of several international stakeholders on Thursday that, “Nobody is green when you are red. So if you are losing money, you are not going to be green. It doesn’t matter if you go to very sustainable projects that are not affordable, they will fail. They have to be affordable.”
Ingham has almost 30 years experience in the energy business, specifically when it comes to power generation and cogeneration, renewable power and alternative fuels and holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, two MBAs and a degree in Law.
The specialist reasoned during his presentation that the three pillars of transitioning to cleaner energy include: sustainability, reliability and affordability.
To this end, he said, “Certainly what I consider the most important aspect is the affordability. It’s been my personal view for years now that poverty is the biggest source of pollution, it is the biggest source of emissions so whenever in doubt, between these three aspects, go towards affordability. That will bring development, that will bring sustainability.”
Ingham’s warning to Guyana comes at a time when the People’s Progressive Party/C (PPP/C) government is forging ahead with its gas-to-shore project, for example, that now carries a price tag in excess of US$1.3 billion.
The Minister with responsibility for Finance in the Office of the President, Dr. Ashni Singh, in his Budget 2022 presentation confirmed that government has already allocated in excess of US$20M towards the project.
A perusal of the project profile for the capital allocation that falls under the Office of the Prime Minister, points out that the government has in fact pegged the total cost for the power plant and other facilities at some US$520M, of which US$20M has been allocated for use this year.
With ExxonMobil spending in excess of US$800M to conduct surveys and other ancillary works for the project, including the laying of the pipeline, it would mean that the total cost of the project is now pegged in excess of $1.3B. The project is intended to add some 300MW of power to the national grid.
On the other hand, the government is also pushing its Amaila Falls Hydropower Project pegged at US$700 million and which will generate 165MW of power.
On Friday, the former Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson argued that the Wales gas-to-shore project will amount to a white elephant as it has now been confirmed that the 50mcf of gas piped to shore will only be sufficient to power the generating sets and a small LPG plant rather than be used for fertiliser (Ammonia, Urea and other agro-processing byproducts), solid waste pyrolysis and even a cement plant as was assured by the PPP/C government.
He reasoned, “Guyana will be expending over US$1.4B and counting (Exxon–US$900M + GOG US$504M) for 250MW generating sets.
This is an incredible amount, considering the fact that the current cost for 1MW of generating power is approximately US$1M. That’s correct; 250MW of natural gas-powered generating sets can be procured for approximately US$250M – yet, the Government is paying US$1.4B.”

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