GPL grid now generating 265MW of electricity as 2nd power ship comes on stream

– as peak demand stands at 195MW for Christmas season

In a significant stride towards stabilising the national power supply, the second power ship has been brought online just in time for Christmas, injecting an additional 60 megawatts (MW) of electricity into the grid.
The 60 MW power ship became operational at approximately 9:47h on Monday, supplying electricity to the national grid. Positioned along the Demerara River, this power ship complements an existing one currently docked at Everton on the Berbice River.

Together, they will pump 110 MW of power to the national grid, in a bid to ensure stable electricity supply to the nation.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar, assured the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) 230,000 customers that they can expect uninterrupted service, throughout the remainder of the Christmas season.
He stated that the injection of 265 MW is expected to ease the burden on the existing system, improving reliability and consistency in electricity supply.
“So, it brings the total working assets of the grid to 265 megawatts. It is above the expected demand of 195 megawatts that is expected during the Christmas season… Now, that goes into the Demerara integrated system, Demerara Berbice integrated system (DBIS), which is the system that powers most of Guyana”.
“We hope to have an uninterrupted supply of power. That is what this investment was meant to do. And I’m holding GPL and others too, to make sure that that is so that people can benefit from the Government’s investment,” the Minister said.
The Minister shared that the project was met with many challenges, which included pile driving for mooring and wharf facilities to accommodate the vessel, building of a temporary access road, and installation of 3.9 kilometres (km) of 69 kilovolt (kV) high-power transmission lines through communities and over highways.
These challenges were all met by the contractor, GPL and Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) as well as other agencies in under six weeks.
“The grid infrastructure at various parts cannot take additional power. If you understand, because it gets overheated, the transformers will blow up, you will have the capacitors and every other thing will end up giving problems. Because grids are designed to carry a certain amount of load, which is the uptake of bulk power. So, what we have to do is build a transmission line from where the ship is parked near GuySuCo (Guyana Sugar Corporation) wharf there, and bring it to the new Georgetown substation, which is about 3.9 kilometres of the transmission line. And that requires a significant amount of work”
“Moving of pipelines, moving of electrical grid. We had to give outages to make sure because it’s heavy power, high voltage power you’re dealing with. So, we had to do that, we had to cast those foundations, make sure they cure fast enough… So, it was the contractor, GPL, GWI, police, all the agencies that are required to be part of the execution of it did their work,” he told the Guyana Times on Monday.
The arrival of this second power ship comes after a contract signing last month between GPL and the Joint Venture of Turkish-based Karpowership Global DMCC and Qatar-based UCC Energy International LLC JV, to charter a second power ship with a total installed capacity of 75 MW for two years.
In the first phase, the power ship will dispatch 60 MW to the grid in approximately six weeks followed by an additional 15 MW, once works are completed on an additional transmission line. The contract requires GPL to pay the Joint Venture 8.52 US cents per Kilowatt-hour (kWh) as a monthly charter fee for the new power ship.
It also requires a monthly operation and maintenance fee of 0.98 US cents per kWh, based on electricity generated. Under the contract, GPL is also responsible for providing Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) for the operation of the ship’s generators.
The addition of the second power ship will boost GPL’s generation capacity to 207 MW, ensuring reliable electricity during the holiday season and beyond. The first power ship had been deployed to Guyana in May of this year and is currently stationed at Everton in the Berbice River.
The floating power plant has been supplying 36 MW of electricity to the DBIS. As part of that agreement, GPL had paid a US$1 million mobilisation fee, a fee of 6.62 US cents per kWh as a monthly charter fee for the vessel, and a monthly operation and maintenance fee of 0.98 US cents per kWh based on electricity generated.