GPL can now generate more power than needed, but generators overdue for repairs – President

President Irfaan Ali has said that while the Guyana Power and Light company (GPL) can now generate more power than is needed, this has to take into account that many of the generators being used are overdue for repairs.

With the commissioning of a second power ship on December 23, GPL’s generation capacity moved from 207 to 267 megawatts, the President said at a press conference Tuesday at his State House, Georgetown residence.

While the current demand averages around 119 megawatts, with peaks of 205 megawatts in October and November, many generators in the system have exceeded their scheduled major overhauls.

GPL could not take the generators offline for repairs without risking power outages, forcing them to operate at reduced efficiency and heightened risk of failure.

“Frankly speaking, they can go down anytime, because they are all past their maintenance period and so on and that is why this excess capacity has to be understood, the President stated.

He emphasised that the recently achieved excess capacity is critical for enabling overdue maintenance without disrupting the power supply.

“If we had pulled those generators out of the system, we would have lost capacity and lose power.

“So they (GPL) had to keep those generators going.

“So we have several generators which have exceeded their major overhaul period and they are all operating at reduced capacity to meet demand,” the President stated.

He said that the repairs of the generators will have to be staggered to ensure a stable supply of electricity.

The President repeated earlier statements that the management of GPL will be held accountable.

“We (government) are making the investment that is necessary to ensure we have reliable and efficient power because we need reliable and efficient power in a modern economy.

“We need reliable and efficient power to ensure that the types of industries we want to invest in are supported with infrastructure that is necessary to help them to invest here.

“And we also need cheaper power.”