Trini
company could make Guyana's smelter dream come true
By
Louis B Homer
Trinidad Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
10 01 06
WHILE
Trinidad continues to haggle over the establishment
of aluminum smelter plants, the private sector and
government in Guyana are moving ahead with plans
to welcome similar projects with open arms.
The
Guyanese are in the process of developing a hydroelectric
power system to provide power for world scale aluminum
smelter plants, Donald Baldeosingh, former chairman
of state-owned oil company Petrotrin told Business
Express.
Baldeosingh's
company, ENMAN Services Limited of Point Lisas Industrial
Estate, Couva, of which he is managing director,
in collaboration with the Government of Guyana,
is a key player in the development of a hydroelectric
power station, using the Mazaruni river in Guyana
as the primary source of power.
ENMAN
recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with
the Guyanese Government to develop the station from
which power will be sold to several countries in
the Caribbean.
A
Caribbean engineering company, ENMAN has been carrying
out feasibility studies in Guyana since 2001 to
determine the suitability of the power plant and
the economic benefits it could bring to the region.
"The
company has completed a pre-feasibility survey and
in a year's time all research on the project will
be completed," Baldeosingh said.
ENMAN
and Hardy Stevenson and Associates Limited of Toronto,
Canada have become joint venture partners and are
developing the project.
"We
are enlisting suitable partners to complete the
feasibility study which is expected to cost approximately
US$10 million in order to move the project forward,"
Baldeosingh said.
A
Canadian company already has signaled its intention
to subscribe US$3 million. The balance has to be
funded by stakeholders in the Caribbean and South
America.
A
1976 United Nations sponsored pre-feasibility study
identified the potential of 1100 mega watts of power
which could be generated upstream on the Mazaruni
River.
A
significant amount of this power could be used in
Guyana and the rest made available to other users,
it was noted.
Baldeosingh
told Business Express that with the spiralling increase
in the price of crude oil on the world market, "the
Caribbean needs to diversify its sources of energy.
Countries need to look beyond oil and gas as its
primary source of energy. There is too much high
dependency on oil and gas," he said.
Baldeosingh
said it was clear from recently held conferences
on energy, that the United States has a major concern
for the security of energy in the Caribbean and
other areas, especially as PetroCaribe of Venezuela
has been widening its influence in the petrochemical
industry.
"The
answer to the problem could be found in the use
of low cost sustainable power, low cost power supply
coming from renewable sources," he said.
Baldeosingh
explained that the new power station will provide
"high voltage transmission from the plant,
from Linden, Guyana to Boa Vista and onwards to
Brazil, using high voltage AC overhead or DC using
overhead or buried cable."
Electricity
also will be used to fuel a world scale aluminum
smelter and other bauxite industries, he said.
Countries
in the Caribbean are expected to benefit from a
trans-Caribbean submarine power cable to energy
deficient islands.
Baldeosingh
said the development of smelters in Guyana were
dependent on the completion of the estimated US$2
billion power plant.
He
said: "In both Guyana and Brazil, bauxite reserves,
both developed and untouched, have been identified
in sufficient quantities to support world scale
smelters."
"The
feasibility of new smelter projects greatly depends
on a large supply of low cost reliable power,"
Baldeosingh said.
The
cost estimate for the bauxite to alumina refinery
is put at US$.7 billion, while one of the proposed
aluminum smelter is put at US $1.6 billion.
ENMAN
has been leading the way to hydroelectric power
development in Guyana since 2001.
Baldeosingh
said that up to 1100 megawatts of electricity will
be produced with cost per kwh as low as US $0.02.
Power
will be available in six to eight years.
The
Guyana Government already has granted ENMAN incentives
and concessions for the proposed power plant.
Trinidad
Express
Wednesday, September 27th 2006
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©2006 Trinidad Express . All Rights Reserved.
