IDB approves US$925k in grants to support Guyana´s bioenergy development plans
Technical cooperation will support Guyana´s Agroenergy Policy and encourage private investment in biofuels production
The Inter-American Development Bank announced the approved technical cooperation grants totaling US$ 925,500 to support Guyana’s bioenergy development plans today.
The funds will be used by the Government of Guyana to promote the development of its nascent bioenergy sector through policy development, training, feasibility studies and incentives for private investment.
“These grants will help the Government of Guyana to turn the country’s extraordinary bioenergy potential into a reality,” said Christiaan Gischler, the IDB project team leader for the technical cooperation. “Guyana has ideal conditions to develop bioenergy alternatives that can lower its oil import bill while attracting investment to the agricultural sector and generating new jobs—all in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner.”
The grants comprise US$675,500 from the IDB’s Japan Special Fund and US$250,000 from the IDB’s Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative Fund.
The grants will finance institutional strengthening for Guyana’s Agroenergy Board and technical support for the ongoing development of its national agroenergy policy. The funds will also be used to provide training for bioenergy technicians, operators and managers and to finance field visits by foreign companies that want to explore investment opportunities in Guyana’s bioenergy sector.
In addition, the grants will be used to encourage private companies to conduct detailed feasibility and pre-investment studies in Guyana. Under a matching grant concept, the IDB grants will provide up to $50,000 per project to companies that wish to study the feasibility of a specific investment proposal. The companies will be expected to provide counterpart funding equal to 75 percent of the grant value to cover the full costs of the studies.
“We think these grants could help to jump-start private investment in Guyana’s agroenergy sector by mitigating the pre-investment risk,” said Gischler. “Numerous companies have already expressed interest in Guyana’s agroenergy sector, and we are confident that studies will lead to concrete investment projects.”
In addition to promoting Guyana´s Agroenergy Policy and welcoming enquiries from investors, the administration of Guyana´s President Bharat Jagdeo has worked with the IDB to raise awareness of the agroenergy potential in the Caribbean region. Last August Guyana hosted a ground-breaked seminar entitled “Expanding Bioenergy Opportunities in the Caribbean,” where President Jagdeo was the keynote speaker. IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno visited Guyana at the time and participated in the seminar to underscore the priority that the Bank gives to Guyana’s renewable energy efforts.
In his speech at the seminar President Moreno emphasized Guyana’s outstanding biofuels potential and highlighted the possibility of cogenerating electricity with bagasse, a by-product of sugar and ethanol production plants. He said that preliminary IDB estimates indicated that Guyana could meet up to half of its electricity needs through cogeneration, substituting diesel and fuel oil currently used for electricity generation and therefore reducing green house gas emissions.
The technical cooperation grants will be administered by Guyana’s Ministry of Agriculture.
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