Gas-to-Energy project to take cheap power to Linden, Silica City

The highly-anticipated Gas-to-Energy project could also take cheaply generated electricity to the mining town of Linden and to communities along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, including Silica City, according to Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.

The project’s 300-megawatt (MW) power plant is expected to harness natural gas produced offshore to generate electricity. That electricity will be distributed throughout the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) network, at about half the existing cost.

But Jagdeo said the government is considering a new connection: taking power along the Soesdyke- Linden Highway and to Linden.

Currently, the government purchases power from Bosai Minerals Group Guyana Inc. to supply to Lindeners. Jagdeo opined that the cost of supplying power to Lindeners can be reduced eventually through the Gas-to-Energy project.

“So we can cut those costs and supply Linden from this power plant here and we build substations along the way so you can take power up to the highway, the entire highway, so when Silica City comes on steam people would have power and we could distribute power there,” the Vice President said at his recent press conference.

Supplying power to Linden isn’t part of the initial plans for the project. Jagdeo, however, noted that the government is also investing in 15MW of solar power in the town in the short term.

He, nevertheless, emphasised, “We want to connect them (to the Gas-to-Energy project). That will allow us to take more power to the highway.”

The highly-anticipated Gas-to-Energy project will be completed by the end of 2025, as originally scheduled.

The complete project- which includes the four gas turbines and two steam turbines- is expected to provide about 300MW of power, using natural gas brought onshore through an ExxonMobil pipeline.

The project also includes a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility, a transmission and distribution network and a modern control centre.