The Renewable Energy Industry in CARIFORUM Countries

RENEWABLE ENERGY INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDER ASSESSMENT

GUYANA

3.8 | GUYANA

sectors are agriculture and the extractive industries. The electricity utility is owned by the government. Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) has an installed capacity of about 404 MW with 57.4 MW of RE in their energy generation mix (GUY, 2017). 54.03MW is from Biomass, 2.97MW from Solar PV and 0.4MW from wind. Given their landscape, there are several off-grid standalone PV systems in the hinterland regions. GPL encourages interconnection with their network subject to compliance with standards and inspection from the Government Electrical Inspectorate (GEI) but do not install systems for customers within the competitive RE industry.

Guyana is an independent Caribbean territory on the South American continent with an area of 196,850 square Kilometres and had a population of 786,550 as of 2019 (UN, 2019). Its main economic

3.8.1 | LEAD GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES

The Ministry of the Presidency has responsibility for the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) which is the lead entity for the energy portfolio. It consults with other ministries in order to execute its functions using energy implementation working groups. There already exists a national energy policy and roadmap to guide their activities. While legislation exists for interconnection to the national grid, specific regulations and feed-in tariffs for non-utility RE generators are still being developed. The energy unit has 112 employees which is adequate capacity to deal with issues in the RE industry. They actively develop and implement programs to encourage the residential sector in pursuit of significant improvements in EE and their focus on hydropower, PV and wind. The lead Ministry’s relationship with the other external stakeholders is depicted in the diagram below.

UTILITIES REGULATOR

PRIVATE SECTOR INSTITUTIONS

REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS

LEAD GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES

FUNDING AGENCIES

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

RENEWABLE ENERGY COMPANIES

Figure 3.39 | Relationships of Guyana’s Lead Government Ministries

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The Renewable Energy Industry in CARIFORUM Countries