Despite challenges, GPL generating excess power now

Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips highlighted significant achievements for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) for 2024, including a substantial increase in electricity generation capacity and improvements to infrastructure.

Total generation capacity rose from 207 megawatts (MW) to 267 MW by the end of 2024, Prime Minister Phillips revealed during a review of the sector on Monday.

With a current peak demand of 205 MW, the country now has excess capacity to supply electricity, maintain a spinning reserve, and support future growth, the Prime Minister stated.

“In 2024 alone we have increased the capacity by 124 megawatts,” he highlighted at an end-of-year press conference.

Key additions to the Demerara Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS), Guyana’s main power grid, included 28 MW at the Columbia station, 37 MW from the first power ship in Berbice, and 60 MW from the second power ship in Demerara.

Additionally, new households began getting power from GPL. Some 153 households in Crabwood Creek; 500 households in Samville, Soesdyke/Linden Highway and 259 other households joined the DBIS.

Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, who was also at Monday’s engagement, said GPL has worked to ensure the reliable supply of power.

However, Indar noted that many of the utility company’s engines had exceeded their scheduled maintenance hours due to increased demand.

“Some of them have gone past the running hours, I saw one at Vreed-en-Hoop – 4000 hours. Please recall that we could not have taken these engines off, they were needed to generate power because we did not have enough capacity to match the massive growing demands of the country,” Indar explained.

Nevertheless, meetings were held with GPL to implement a schedule for engine repairs and ensure adequate generating capacity during maintenance.

Indar assured that Guyana’s power generation is sufficient for the foreseeable future, with proper management and scheduling of engine repairs. He revealed that efforts are underway to enhance the transmission network to handle bulk power transfer.