Govt to contract power ship to boost electricity supply for Christmas

The Government is moving to contract another power ship to boost the supply of electricity in time for Christmas.
This new power ship is expected to bring some 60 megawatts (MW) of power to the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS).
Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has explained that the Government has received a bid from the same company that currently has a 36-MW power ship operating in Guyana.
“They have to build five kilometres of transmission main, so that project has started and should be completed in six weeks. The material often is not here in the country so they are using some spare material that we are borrowing now because you know to procure a lot of the material to transform the poles, they take time… It may take a month to six weeks to get the power ship in and so we are hoping still before Christmas the power ship could be here and turn on.”
“That will be major, it will be 60 megawatts into the system and then possibility when we build another piece of transmission main, we’ll get 75 megawatts. So, that will be for two years… and hopefully that will bring relief” VP Jagdeo said.
Earlier this year, the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Qatar-based Urbacon Concessions Investments, W.L.L (UCI) for the rental of the 36-MW floating power plant for two years in a move to add much-needed capacity to the grid.
While the rental deal was signed with UCI, the power ship is owned by Turkey-based Karpowership International.
As part of this agreement, GPL has already paid a US$1 million mobilisation fee.
The power company also has to pay a fee of 6.62 US cents per kilowatt-hour (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 is also required to provide Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) for the operation of the generators onboard the vessel.
The vessel started injecting power into the national grid since May 9 and is currently docked at Everton, East Bank Berbice (EBB).
The State-owned power company has been experiencing generation shortfalls due to an unprecedented rise in electricity demand coupled with challenges from its aged equipment.
In March, two of GPL’s engines failed, disrupting power generation across the country. Before this vessel was connected to the grid, GPL was generating about 165-MW of power. However, the peak demand is about 180-MW.