Joining Prime Minister Brigadier Mark Phillips at the commissioning ceremony for a 3MW solar farm at Hampshire in Region Six yesterday, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh described the project as “historic”, noting its importance in advancing Guyana’s clean energy transition, its contribution to local job creation, and its role in strengthening international, regional, and local partnerships.
“This project is part of a very important historic journey”, he said, attributing the achievement to the Government of Guyana’s drive to deliver sustainable energy solutions nationwide.
Prime Minister Brigadier Mark Phillips, while delivering the feature address on behalf of President Irfaan Ali, pointed out that the commissioning of the facility sends a clear signal that Guyana is serious about transition to cleaner energy sources as he asked, “If we do not fix energy, how can we fix the climate?”.
“Leadership is not what you claim. Leadership is what you do. Even as our forests perform the work of giants, we still invest, we still act. Climate Change does not wait on anyone,” the Prime Minister underscored.
“This commissioning sends a clear signal not only to our people, but to the Latin American and Caribbean region and the rest of the world,” Prime Minister Phillips added further.
Dr. Singh in his remarks recalled that in 2009, then President Jagdeo and the then Minister of Environment and International of Norway, Erik Solheim collaborated to sign a historic agreement between Guyana and Norway. Norway at the time pledged up to $250 million to Guyana for conserving its rainforest.
Minister Singh lauded the visionary initiative and global thought leadership provided by Guyana and by President Jagdeo in particular at the time as he led the call for Guyana to receive compensation for its standing forest since 2006. This, he noted, led to the country earning revenue under the original Low Carbon Development Strategy under the partnership with Norway and more recently under the LCDS 2030 which was launched by President Irfaan Ali shortly after he assumed office.
This financing is now supporting the implementation of various climate friendly initiatives such as solar farms which form part of Government’s policy towards a diversified energy mix and providing cleaner and renewable power countrywide.
“Guyana was providing climate services to the rest of the world free of charge and not being compensated, not earning any revenue for this important service that we were providing and he (then President Jagdeo) articulated and developed this idea in such an incredibly visionary way that had never been articulated at any other point in time anywhere else in the world,” the Minister added, pointing to Guyana now being recognized worldwide for its standing rainforest service.
The solar farm projects also have an impact on the local community in terms of job creation and other initiatives, and this was pointed out by Inter-American Development Bank Resident Representative in Guyana, Ms. Lorena Solórzano Salazar who also delivered remarks at the event.
“31 out of 50 women were trained in solar PV installation and gainfully employed in the first three years of the project execution through Regions Two, Five, Six and Ten. Six persons with disability received training and are already working in GPL, “she explained.
The solar farm project commissioned today was done on the sidelines of President Irfaan Ali’s two-day Cabinet Outreach to Region Six and forms part of the GoG’s/Guyana Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Progam (GUYSOL) aimed at diversifying the country’s energy mix – a significant step towards cleaner, renewable power and a resilient energy future for Guyana.
GUYSOL, which falls under the Guyana Power and Light Inc, is funded through a Guyana/Norway partnership to the tune of US$83 million. Under this project, eight solar farms are being constructed to contribute 33 MWp of solar power across the country with three to be located in Region Six at Hampshire, Prospect and Trafalgar.
In its 2025 Manifesto, Government outlined its plans to continue its efforts to resuscitate the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) and install an additional 100 MW of solar power to further advance the diversification of the country’s energy mix. The Manifesto also highlighted the administration’s plan to continue to promote Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 globally as a model for balancing environmental protection and economic development, particularly through forest conservation and carbon credit financing, to foster new areas of innovation in conservation and financing for biodiversity and ecosystem services among other initiatives.
Much development groundwork for Berbice to become a second industrial hub in the country was done during the PPP/C’s 2020-2025 term in office and the Region now boasts a new modern Number 75 Regional hospital, new roads have been built across the Region, a new New Amsterdam hospital is underway, a new stadium is under construction at Palmyra, call centres operate in the Region and have allowed for more jobs for persons in Berbice, the Government plans to construct a new bridge across the Berbice River and in collaboration with its neighbour to the East, Suriname plans to construct a new bridge across the Corentyne River. Already, hundreds of Guyanese have been graduating in the area of oil and gas from the Guyana Technical Training College in Port Mourant.
Also in attendance at the Opening ceremony were Minister within the Ministry of Housing, Hon. Vanessa Benn and the Executive Management Leader of GPL, Mr. Kesh Nandlall.
