To end the spate of power outages throughout the country, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has been given the green light to purchase power from private entities to supply the national grid.
Prime Minister Mark Phillips with Minister Deodat Indar as they engage GPL CEO Albert Gordon and other officials
Prime Minister, Mark Phillips and Junior Public Works Minister, Deodat Indar on Tuesday met with Chief Executive Officer of GPL, Albert Gordon to address issues facing the company with regards to producing reliable electricity.
Phillips, who has responsibility for the energy sector – told the media following the meeting, that his office will work along with GPL to end power outages countrywide. In this regard, the Prime Minister revealed that he has charged GPL to invite Expressions of Interest for the purchasing of electricity from private entities.
“I’ve already passed directions to the Chief Executive Officer to ensure that as we move now to the end of 2020 and into the first quarter of 2021, all steps must be taken to ensure that we have reliable electricity in Guyana and a reduction in power outages. Expressions of interests will be published soon so that we could purchase whatever power is available in Guyana to compliment the power that is being supplied by GPL,” he said.
Good plans, no
proper execution
During the discussions, it was noted that the power company has drafted a number of plans in the short, medium, and long term to ensure reliable electricity. However, in the short term, the most important concern is having a reduced or zero power outages.
According to Minister Indar, these plans are “solid” but it is the implementation and timing logistics which need to be modified.
“We believe that GPL has a solid plan but the implementation of it and timing of the implementation and funding of the initiatives needs to be addressed and managed.”
He explained that the company’s capacity and output are almost equivalent – standing at about 120 megawatts. This means any disruptions would result in power outages.
“If any generator within the substation sets that are on the DBIS system goes out and falls below 120, you will have blackouts. The demand and the output is relatively the same. Anything happens down there in terms of mechanical failure or anything, you will have blackouts because there is no backup capacity. That is why we need to add to the grid,” the Junior Minister contended.
GPL was also instructed to repair generators that were down to increase the output until power is supplied from private stakeholders. Indar lamented that within the last five years, the previous Administration only managed to add three engines to the system, contending that it was highly neglected.
“I understand that a seven-megawatt engine will be added by tomorrow. GPL and the capital programme for adding into the system was neglected for five years. They only had three caterpillar engine that they add to the system in the five-year period.”
GPL’s Chief Executive Officer, Albert Gordon noted that they were able to bring down the number of shutdowns from 25 in 2017 to just three this year.
“Over the past several months, we have been doing fairly well but not perfect. More recently, we had the shutdown and we had three this year. In 2017, it was 25,” the CEO expressed.
The coastal generation of power is handled by Power Producers and Distributors Incorporated (PPDI), a State-owned agency that was contracted to maintain GPL’s power plants.
Two major private companies, namely Banks DIH Limited and Giftland Mall, had expressed interest in supplying power to the State agency. The two entities are powering their own operations using heavy fuel oil, and each has substantial capacity in this regard.
Giftland Mall had, since 2016, offered to sell Government its excess electricity, but this was rejected. At a press conference in June 2019, Gordon had explained that buying power from an independent power producer (IPP) is a complicated issue which includes negotiating pricing and legal matters.
Nevertheless, Giftland had reassured last August, “We stand by our statement that a dedicated 3MW is available, and we can supply up to 4.5MW as required. We are not sure what further justification is required to show why this can withstand any scrutiny. Our prices are competitive and better than power supplied by GPL diesel generators. The supply is available without any expenditure to GPL (and) without commitment for long-term supplies.”
