Operating capacity not affected after fire at Kingston plant – GPL

…as preparations ongoing for second power ship

The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) has assured consumers that its operating capacity is intact following an early morning fire on Sunday last that caused peripheral damages to a 5.5-megawatt (MW) generator at its Kingston Plant.
In a statement on Thursday, GPL explained that, “An initial assessment of damages confirmed that the fire did not compromise the engine’s internal components. However, the electrical wiring and casings were damaged.”
Nevertheless, it was noted that efforts are currently underway by both GPL and the Power Producers and Distributors Inc. (PPDI), which operates and maintains the Kingston Plant, to have the damaged components replaced.
Meanwhile, despite this fire incident, the state-owned power company contends that its generation supply remains sufficient.

“…GPL wishes to assure customers that the Demerara-Berbice-Interconnected System (DBIS) is operating with adequate capacity and will continue to do so throughout the holiday season,” the missive detailed.
The current peak demand is 187 MW, while the available capacity is 194 MWs. This capacity is expected to be enhanced by next week.
“Additionally, two generators with an aggregate capacity of 13 MW that are unavailable due to major overall will be back online by December 10 and 21. This will boost the generation capacity in the DBIS to 207 MW.”

New power ship
On the other hand, preparations are currently ongoing for the arrival of a second power ship, which will add another 60 MW of electricity to the national grid. This additional power will be integrated into the DBIS through a new 3.9-kilometre transmission cable connected to the New Georgetown Substation on Mandela Avenue.
Minister within the Public Works Ministry Deodat Indar, led a team to conduct a site visit on Thursday morning to inspect the ongoing preparatory works that will interconnect the transmission line from the Mandela Avenue substation to the floating power plant, which will soon arrive in Guyana and be docked in the Demerara River.
Also, there during the site visit at the back of the Demerara Sugar Terminal near Ruimveldt, Greater Georgetown, were Head of GPL’s Executive Management Committee, Kesh Nandlall, technical directors and representatives from Kalpataru Projects International Limited (KPIL).
Last month, GPL signed a contract with 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 a period of two years. In the first phase, the power ship will dispatch 60 MWs to the grid in approximately six weeks followed by an additional 15 MWs, once works are completed on an additional transmission line.
The contract requires GPL to pay the Joint Venture 8.52 US cents per kWh as a monthly charter fee for the new power ship and 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.
This second power ship will add to the 36 MW of electricity already being produced by the first floating power plant that is in the Berbice River.
Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had previously defended the Government’s move to rent a second power ship to supply electricity to the nation grid, arguing that the cost to buy the electricity is almost the same amount if GPL were to generate the power itself.
The first power ship is generating electricity at 20.5 US cents per kWh while the second power ship is estimated to generate at 22.5 US cent per kWh.
“So, that’s the difference… This [second power ship] price is slightly higher… but that’s not just for the rental of the ship… To generate the same amount of power, GPL would’ve had an amount of cost. [Patterson] ignores that cost totally so it sounds like a lot of money we’re paying just for rental. We’re renting capacity and they’re doing the O&M, and it’s for two years. So, it’s bridging power until the Gas-to-Energy Project comes on stream,” Jagdeo had noted during a press conference in November.
Currently, GPL is selling power at approximately 22/23 US cents per kWh. However, the cost for generation and transmission is nearly 30 US cents per kWh and that difference is being subsidized by the Guyana Government.
“People should know that US$70 million in subsidy is keeping their power bill at the same rate as 2020 although we’ve seen escalation in fuel costs. And secondly, you can’t calculate rental of a ship as though you don’t have a counterpart cost if you generate the same power.”
“It’s pure nonsense about billions being spent on rental so people will say ‘oh, this government is wasting a lot of money.’ But we’re trying to get more power into the system because the demand is growing because of the development [happening] here and because you did nothing [while in office to upgrade the existing power system],” the Vice President posited. (G8)