Saving the sun for tomorrow

Dec 15, 2025 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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(Kaieteur News) – In Guyana, the approach to energy development is now wearing the bulky boots of natural gas – two major gas-to-energy plants are planned. But this emphasis threatens to leave solar power behind.

The coming of gas-to-energy is being hailed, understandably, as a triumph of progress. Gas will steady the grid, reduce generation costs, and power the Demerara–Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) with a reliability it has never known.

Yet it is precisely because gas will dominate the coast for the next decade and beyond that our solar ambitions there feel oddly misplaced. One does not plant shade trees where a concrete overpass is already planned.

It is puzzling, then, that some of the most substantial investments in solar farms have been directed toward coastal regions that will soon be awash in gas-fired power, while the hinterland—where the sun is abundant has been given modest, almost apologetic installations. A one-megawatt farm in Lethem, 1.3 megawatts in Bartica, and 0.65 in Mahdia are not symbols of a bold vision. They raise more questions than answers, including why not build the MW farms in these areas rather than on the coast.

Long-term planning requires an acceptance of growth in energy demand. Guyana’s per capita electricity consumption has historically lagged well behind that of comparable countries. This gap was not merely a statistic; it was a warning. As incomes rise, industries expand, and technology seeps into every corner of daily life, electricity demand does not creep. It surges.

The hinterland, often imagined as static, will not be immune. Towns like Lethem and Bartica are not museum pieces; they are living communities with ambitions of their own. Energy usage there too will surge.

It is worth recalling that a previous administration recognised this reality. Its Green State Development Strategy did not treat solar power as an accessory, but as a foundation, particularly for areas beyond the coastal grid. Government buildings were retrofitted with panels, and there was talk—refreshingly practical talk—of feeding unused power back into the national grid. Such a policy would not only have reduced waste but would have encouraged private investment, allowing businesses to become modest producers rather than permanent consumers.

There was, too, the imaginative notion of Bartica as a green town, powered entirely by renewables. This was not naïveté; it was an experiment in foresight. The Green State Development Strategy extended further, envisioning micro-grids, photovoltaic systems with batteries, small hydro, and hybrid solutions tailored to the realities of hinterland life. It accepted that energy policy, like good writing, benefits from specificity.

Whatever criticisms may be levelled at the Granger administration, fairness demands an acknowledgment that its thinking on solar energy was remarkably sound. Long before gas-to-energy became the dominant refrain, that government articulated a coherent vision of an energy mix in which solar, hydro, wind and biomass were central to the country’s energy future. The very idea that Guyana’s energy future should be diversified—so that no single source could render another redundant or leave communities vulnerable—originated with that approach. On this score the Granger government’s solar energy plans were both timely and well-conceived.

The current approach by the PPPC, while energetic in its own way, seems less patient with the future. Solar, wind, and hydropower are treated as complements rather than cornerstones, especially within the DBIS. In the hinterland, the goal of meeting only half of energy demand with renewables suggests a cautiousness that borders on resignation. Meanwhile, gas threatens to make coastal solar farms redundant, expensive ornaments to a system that no longer needs them.

This is not an argument against gas, nor is it nostalgia disguised as policy critique. It is an appeal for proportion. If gas is destined to dominate the coast, then solar should have been allowed—indeed encouraged—to dominate the hinterland. Large-scale farms there would not only meet present needs but anticipate future ones, reducing dependence on imported fuel and insulating communities from price shocks and logistical failures.

The irony is that the resources to pursue such a vision now exist. Capital, once scarce, is no longer the chief obstacle. What remains is the harder task: thinking beyond the immediate glow of success and planning for a time when today’s solutions will look, inevitably, incomplete.

Solar power is patient. It does not complain if it must wait years to prove its worth. But policy should be patient too, and thoughtful, and a little humble in the face of tomorrow. Otherwise, we risk discovering—too late—that we built our energy future backward, and left the sun shining most brightly where it is least needed.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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• gas-to-energy, Natural Gas, Peeping Tom, solar power

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