US$1M mobilisation fee paid for rental of powership – GPL

To address recent power outages, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has already paid a mobilisation fee of US$1 million to rent a powership.

The deal was signed on April 13 with Urbacon Concessions Investments, W.L.L (UCI) to rent the power ship for two years. In a press release on Thursday, GPL revealed the ship, with a capacity of 36 Megawatts, will be operated and maintained by UCI, a subsidiary of UCC Holdings based in Qatar, in collaboration with Karpowership International from Turkey.

“The contract requires GPL to pay UCI a fee of 6.62 US cents per kWh as a monthly charter fee for the power ship and a monthly operation and maintenance fee of 0.98 US cents per kWh, based on electricity generated,” GPL stated.

The power ship is expected to operate at 96 per cent availability.

The release further noted that, “GPL has paid a total mobilization fee of One Million United States Dollars and is not required under the contract to pay a demobilization fee.”

Additionally, “Under the contract, GPL is responsible for providing Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) for the operation of the generators.”

The ship, previously used in Cuba, will arrive in Guyana around May 1, weather permitting. It will be located at Everton, Berbice, and connected to GPL’s Grid at 69 kV. GPL is preparing the site for the ship’s arrival and expects it to start delivering electricity by May 8.

In addition to the power ship, the government has invested in 17 generators and six step-up transformers. To date, 15 of these generators have been installed at the Columbia sub-station. These generators are expected to add another 30 megawatts to the grid.