GEA commences the redevelopment of the Hosororo Hydropower Plant

The defunct micro hydropower plant at Hosororo in Region One will once again become operational by March 2018.

Engineers of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) with assistance from GIZ/REETA have completed the feasibility study, design and bid documents for the redevelopment of the project.

According to the GEA, it is inviting tenders for the construction and installation works of the project to commence in July 2017. Selected contractors will be required to utilise labour from within the community.

Supervision of the project during the construction phase will be conducted by GEA’s Engineers along with their counterparts from the Hinterland Electrification Company Inc. (HECI) and the Mabaruma Power and Light Company (MPLC). Regular updates will also be provided to the Mayor and Councillors of the Region, and the general community, on the project through meetings and site visits.

The Mabaruma Power and Light Company Inc. currently supplies power to about 735 households with generators supplying about 400kW peak load. The Hinterland Electrification Company Inc (HECI) is in the process of procuring and installing a 400kW solar photovoltaic farm.

The hydropower plant will only be supplying about 20kW towards meeting the demand of the community.

The GEA said the plant will entail the construction of a 20kW run-of-the-river type micro hydropower plant inclusive of weir/intake, penstock and powerhouse.  Electricity from the new plant will be fed directly to the distribution network of the local power utility MPLCI and will provide about 8% of the annual energy demand of 735MWh. The power system incorporating diesel, solar and hydro would be the first hybrid system of such diversity providing energy in Guyana. The computed Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) was USD 0.31 per kWh compared to the cost of generation from fossil-based diesel of about USD 0.50 per kWh.

While this project will provide much experience in implementing and operating hybrid systems, GEA and HECI are actively studying and pursuing similar systems for areas such as Bartica, Lethem, Kumu and other areas.

The Hosororo site is situated at the Hosororo Creek about 4.6 km bees flight to the south-west of Mabaruma, Region 1, in the north of Guyana.

In 1985, a study done by Terrence Fletcher and Associates Limited studied the option to install a hydropower plant at the creek and supply electricity to an agricultural produce processing facility to be built nearby. In the late 1980’s, a powerhouse with a turbine of reportedly 5 kW capacity was installed using the upper of two existing concrete weirs. However, the project was abandoned some years after its inauguration for reasons that are still unclear.