Hydro-power can catalyse dynamic development in Guyana Hydro-power can catalyse dynamic development

Hydro-power can catalyse dynamic development in Guyana Hydro-power can catalyse dynamic development

Written by MOHAMED KHAN

OUR prospect for developing into a highly industrialised state is closely linked with the question of energy supplies. The high and continually escalating price of oil is a serious problem. We should have therefore paid great attention some eighteen years ago to the possibility of using, as far as practicable, technology which would reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels. The development of heavy industries, in particular, depends upon the availability of a relatively cheap and abundant supply of energy. We have vast hydro-power potential, if we could harness this potential. Our future as an industrialised country would be assured if we get the Amaila hydro project going. Some decades ago the previous government had indentified the Upper Mazaruni as the best source of hydro-power for the country’s purposes. That government had a carefully prepared project to link the generation of hyro-power at Upper Mazaruni with the establishment of a smelter at Linden to produce aluminum. The cost at that time for the hydro-power/smelter project was G$2.5 billion. It was considered an astronomical sum.  But, given the extremely high cost of imported fuel today and the projections of continuing strong demand for aluminum for years to come, the Amaila hydro-plant can be entirely feasible if it was contracted out to the right company. The realisation of this project would bring Guyana one leap into the 21st century. The realisation of Amaila hydro-plant project must be a dominant consideration informing and influencing our foreign policy initiatives. The world’s energy needs are expected to double by 2030, a challenge that is further heightened by concerns about reducing Co2 emissions and the decreasing reserves and unprecedented costs for fossil fuels. As business, government and science address these dynamic realities, continued economic growth hangs in the balance. Hydro-power can catalyse dynamic development in Guyana http://pumpandgenerator.com/hydro-power-can-catalyse-dynamic-development-in-guyana-development/ http://pumpandgenerator.com/hydro-power-can-catalyse-dynamic-development-in-guyana-development/ http://pumpandgenerator.com