A thermal power plant project, convertible to gas, carried by the EDF group in the commune of Matoury in Guyana, is being debated in the French territory of South America, where it will be located in an area subject to flooding. The so-called "Larivot" power station, with a capacity of 120 MW, has not yet obtained an environmental permit. It must replace the current "extremely dilapidated and obsolete" power station, according to the prefecture of Guyana, commissioned in 1982 in Rémire-Montjoly and maintained thanks to successive derogations until 2023 despite high polluting emissions.
This 500 million euro oil-fired power plant project, classified as a "low threshold Seveso", was the subject of a public inquiry which ends on Monday. It was codecided by the prefecture of Guyana, the territorial collectivity of Guyana (CTG) and validated by the former minister for energy transition Nicolas Hulot.
In natural and swampy areas
A 14-kilometer underground oil pipeline crossing Cayenne, Rémire-Montjoly and Matoury would supply the plant with fuel imported from Europe and unloaded at the Grand Port Maritime de Guyane. "Through this project, we are making our production and consumption model dependent on fossil fuels imported at great cost and not very resilient in the face of crises," lamented Guyane nature environnement.
The Environmental Authority had feared in a notice in December 2019 that this isolated project of an oil-fired power station "poses a high risk of non-compliance with the law" on the energy transition and autonomy desired from 2030 in the Overseas -sea. But for EDF "more than in other territories, thermal electricity production plays a crucial role in Guyana" to "compensate for the fluctuations" in the production of the Petit-Saut hydroelectric dam (40 to 60% of electric production ) and solar.
The location of the site in a natural and marshy area, at risk of flooding and marine submersion is also debated. "The site has been retained" without prior "environmental assessment and public inquiry", objected the environmental authority.
"Economic benefits of around 100 million euros for Guyana"
EDF is committed to "avoiding, reducing and compensating" for environmental impacts. But the Regional Scientific Council for Natural Heritage in Guyana and the National Council for the Protection of Nature gave an unfavorable opinion to the project. The Guyana Water and Biodiversity Committee is also concerned about the way in which "EDF plans to preserve ecological continuity, taking into account the ecological richness of this area". The Environmental Authority also considers that this plant "risks making the call for alternative means of production from renewable energy (ENR) economically dissuasive".
EDF, which plans to associate a solar park with its power station, had bought in 2017 for 15 million euros this land heritage (110 hectares) from the Sugar and Agricultural Company of Guyana. The location presents "an environment favorable to the project", according to the CTG. EDF announces "economic spin-offs of around 100 million euros for Guyana", "around 250 jobs" during the construction phase, "including at least 20% local jobs", particularly for positions in formworkers, fitters, pipefitters-welders.
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