The power ship from Karpowership International out of Turkey came online last weekend, injecting 18MW of generation into the Demerara Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS).
It was promised that the ship would inject up to 36MW of power into the national grid but even with just 18MW, Head of the Executive Management Committee of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), Kesh Nandlall has assured citizens that enough power is being generated and is available to meet the peak demand.
The peak demand for electricity is 177MW. GPL is generating, on its own, well over 150MW. “Generation is above that peak demand, we are above the peak,” Nandlall said.
Nandlall said over this weekend, the power ship will ramp up to full capacity making more power available. To do this, capacity testing will be scheduled.
Nandlall told the News Room during a telephone interview that any power outage experienced currently is not as a result of a shortfall in available power but instead to allow for scheduled maintenance or incidents on the networks because of accidents.
“Since Saturday there has been no shortfall since the power ship came online officially,” he said.=
Once the power ship ramps up generation to full capacity, the remaining power will be added to the grid incrementally.
but with the electricity demand steadily increasing, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo said the government intends to seek out more power.
He noted that the additional power would be sought in a short-term arrangement similar to the current power ship venture.
That is, power will be supplied to the main power grid for two years until the government can complete and operationalise the massive 300 MW Gas-to-Energy project at Wales, West Bank Demerara.
