As the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) company continues to grapple with multifaceted challenges resulting in electricity shortfalls, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali announced that a powership will soon arrive in Guyana’s shores, adding 35 megawatt of power to the national grid immediately.
During a live broadcast on Friday night, the Head of State presented a detailed overview of the challenges facing GPL.
With regards to the powership, President Ali said that preparations are currently underway to integrate the new power source into the national grid to meet the immediate energy needs.
“It is amazing that within 15 days, we could have a powership coming in here, ready to be connected to the grid. In the next 14 days, we are working on ensuring that all the infrastructure is in place to accept that power,” he said.
However, President Ali acknowledged that this additional power will not sustain the steady growth and demand being experienced but necessitates a proactive approach.
It is anticipated that around 60 megawatts of power will be required as a result of the government’s move to cut electricity by 50 per cent with the flagship gas-to-energy project at Wales.
That is why, the Head of State underscored, discussions are underway regarding the potential of gas-powered generation capacity.
Moreover, authorities are exploring the feasibility of a second gas plant to bolster the nation’s energy security and accommodate projected growth.
“This also necessitates the Amalia Falls Hydropower Project to come on stream as quickly as possible,” he stressed.
He continued, “we would have not had this problem today, had the APNU/AFC, had the foresights to support this project when they use every tool possible to block this project and chase away the investors. Today, we would have had 165 megawatts of power supplied by clean energy.”
It is important to note that the PPP/C administration inherited an energy sector that was dilapidated with little to no investments made by the previous coalition government to maintain and expand the transmission and distribution network.
President Ali expounded further on the complex issues challenging GPL’s efficiency and reliability, which he said is compounded by technical and non-technical losses, lack of redundancy in generation, increased construction activities and a severe technical deficit in the human resource capacity at GPL and its partners.
Notwithstanding that, government has initiated discussions with UK Export Finance and other stakeholders to accelerate financing to upgrade the transmission and distribution networks
President Ali also said the government will be assessing and enhancing the management capability and capacity.
Since assuming office, the government has purchased approximately 40 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Next year, an additional 300 megawatts (MW) are expected to be added to the national grid, once the much-anticipated Gas to Energy Project at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD) comes on stream.
The government had pledged to resuscitate the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project in its 2020 manifesto. Bids were opened last year for proposals under the BOOT model, which includes the construction of a hydro dam, transmission lines from Amaila to Linden, and sub-stations at the Amalia site. These proposals are currently being evaluated. (DPI)
