Giftland to supply GPL grid by month-end

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Incorporated has several projects in train to maximise the potential of power generation in both the short and long term.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Strategic Operations at GPL, Samaroo Ramtahal told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that they were looking at three avenues.
One of the projects entails securing an additional five megawatts of power from the Giftland Mall through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
Personnel are currently on the ground working on the connections, and GPL expects to see the project completed by month-end. This will bring much-needed relief and mitigate blackouts for thousands of residents on the East Coast Demerara corridor.
The Giftland system has a 6.7-megawatt output capacity. However, it only uses 1.6 megawatts during prime operations.
According to Ramtahal, preliminary works are also being set in motion for another 30 megawatts of power for the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System to ensure a merry Christmas.
The third project is a “dual engine for Garden of Eden to 46.5 megawatts”, the CEO said. This is a major project for GPL, and is expected to be implemented by April-June, 2021.
“By that time, we should be able to be in a better position to manage our reliability of electricity in this country,” Ramtahal said.
The DCEO told DPI since his appointment he has uncovered a number of inconsistencies in the company’s management under the previous Administration.
“I’m there for just two weeks, but I’ve discovered [that] over the last four to five years, investment to generation was under five per cent, [which is] merely seven megawatts,” Ramtahal is quoted by DPI as saying.
“We are trapped with a very low generation reserve and when we have problems, we do not have what you call ‘spinning reserves’ or spare reserves to ensure that the grid is operating in the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System,” he added.
The minimum standard generation reserve in the Caribbean is said to be 30 per cent. The purpose of the reserve is to allow reliable connections and ensure supply capacity is always above the demand. When the reserve is too low and power consumption in an area is above normal, this results in a blackout or power outage.
Last year, the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government had signed a PPA with Giftland Mall. However, the then APNU/AFC was in caretaker mode at the time, having lost a no-confidence motion in December 2018. As such, the former Government was supposed to be doing only routine Government functions that did not include signing new agreements.
Giftland Mall had, since 2016, offered to sell Government its excess electricity, but the former Government had previously rejected the offer. But the issue of GPL purchasing power took on more importance when two of its submarine cables sustained damage by vessels.
After the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government took power in August of 2020, it was announced that the PPA would be one of several agreements that would be reviewed by the new Administration.
Guyana has urgent energy concerns owing to the APNU/AFC’s sabotage of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project (AFHP), first with its parliamentary majority against former President Donald Ramotar’s Government and then by shelving the project after 2015.
With Amaila’s capacity to supply 165 megawatts of power, the loss of this renewable energy project is still felt today.
In early September, about 30 businesses within the Private Sector heeded the Government’s call for Expressions of Interest (EoIs) to supply GPL with 30 megawatts of electricity.
On August 18, to end the spate of power outages throughout the country, GPL was given the green light by Government to purchase power from private entities to supply the national grid.