- IDB and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation to finance eight solar PV projects and 34MWh energy storage.
The Latin American and Caribbean-focused is set to provide financial support to the government of Guyana for the deployment of eight solar PV projects with a combined 33MW power, and 34MWh co-located energy storage. The project, referred to as the Guyana Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Programme (GUYSOL), is to receive a non-reimbursable investment financing of USD 83 million. This was approved by the Inter-American Bank (IBD).
The projects will be deployed across three distant electricity grids in the South American country serving 265,000 customers. All the storage sites will be one-hour systems. In the Linden Isolated Power System (LIS), which serves the second-largest city after the capital Georgetown, three solar PV plants totalling 15MWp will be installed with a minimum of 22MWh battery storage. The Linden projects will have storage co-located on-site, described as “backup storage”, by the IDB.
Two solar PV plants totalling 8MWp with 12MWh of storage will be deployed in the southwestern Essequibo Coast Isolated Power System (EIS), although to what extent they are co-located has not been clarified. Finally, some 10MWp of standalone PV will be deployed in the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS), in the country’s east, with no associated storage mentioned.
The projects will help utilities Guyana Power & Light (GPL) and the Linden Electricity Company Inc. (LECI) reduce emissions. GPL is a state-owned electricity provider serving the majority of the country.