GtE Project to improve manufacturing standards in Guyana – GMSA President

The Guyana Government’s plan to reduce the cost of electricity with the Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project will not only lower the cost of manufacturing but also improve the standard of manufacturing and aid in local manufacturers becoming more competitive.
This is according to President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Ramsay Ali who informed investors at the recently concluded International Business Conference (IBC) that the GtE Project will play a crucial role in ensuring that international standards are achieved and consistently maintained.
Ali believes that the project also has the potential to further develop the manufacturing sector.
“If you were to talk to manufacturers in this room, the issue was not only about cost, but it was also about the quality of energy that manufacturers receive. Most manufacturing companies operate with very sensitive equipment. And unfortunately for us, over the years, the power company was not able to supply us with the kind of quality energy we need in this country. And based on everything we are told, not only are we going to be benefiting from energy, the cost of energy going down significantly, but the grid, the significance of the money is being spent on the grid to get that in a place where manufacturers can feel comfortable and investors can say, look, I can bring my equipment in here and I can benefit from something that is good and useful,” Ali shared.

Ali further disclosed that the enhanced energy grid will help to support manufacturers who are considering expanding their operations in Guyana.
“To the people in the room that are, you know, thinking about Guyana and manufacturing and energy costs, it’s not only about the Gas to Shore project also, because I’ve heard the president speak and other Ministers of Government speak about, you know, other areas of energy from different sources, including hydro and solar energy. So, I believe that in closing this and just moving on from this topic that we are finally going to move away from that place where we are no longer suffering from the cost of energy from manufacturers in Guyana… If you were to factor in the costs, the new costs, we are going to be much more competitive in the export market and that is something we look forward to,” he added.
The US$759 million GtE Project is expected to deliver power to the national grid in 2025.
The GtE Project consists of five key components: laying of the pipeline to bring the gas on shore; construction of the power plant and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility; installation of the transmission lines; building of a new control centre; and upgrading of the aged power distribution system.
Guyana had, in April 2023, approached the US EXIM Bank for a US$761 million loan to finance the GtE Project, and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had disclosed in September that the bank was preparing to submit a report to its Board at a meeting this month. That was after the technical and environmental due diligence work had been done by the US EXIM Bank, which had sent experts to Guyana for these assessments.
However, even as Guyana awaits approval of this loan, Government has already spent some US$400 million on the GtE Project, and could potentially fund the entire initiative if the US EXIM Bank loan is not approved.
It has been explained that the aim was to borrow approximately US$650 million from the US Bank to fund the GtE initiative, while the Guyana Government was expected to put up the other US$100 million as advance payment to support the initiative. (G1)