When contacted, Dindyal, Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) said Wartsila made the proposal to provide additional generation last year at the time it was providing the 20.7 MW engines for the Kingston plant. He said that by agreeing to Wartsila’s proposal, “a locked in price” was guaranteed. He said too that the Wartsila engines currently being used by GPL have performed well and are durable. The engines that are now being sourced from Wartsila have a 20-year lifecycle, Dindyal added.
The contract between GPL and the Finland-headquartered company was signed on Tuesday, less than a month after President Bharrat Jagdeo incidentally announced at the Guyana Labour Union’s (GLU) delegates’ conference that US$20 million more would have to be spent on additional generating capacity.
According to the contract, the additional generation should be in place by August 31. On Tuesday, GINA reported Dindyal as saying, “we are increasing our reliable generation capacity by a further 15.6 megawatts, currently we have an overall capacity of about 88 megawatts but only 64.7 of that is reliable capacity in Demerara. With an increase in the reliable capacity, we are further strengthening our position to improve the quality and reliability of supply.” This investment comes after the much-vaunted commissioning of the 20.7 MW Kingston plant last December. Last year, assurances were given that the electricity woes would end with the installation of the three Wartsila units at the Kingston power station. There was no announcement at that time about additional generation being acquired.
However, Dindyal told Stabroek News recently that the company will be required to increase its generation capacity from time to time until the Amaila Hydropower plant comes into operation.
He said there is need to increase this generating capacity by 6 to 7 MW annually to cater for the increased demands coming from the businesses that are being set up and additional equipment being purchased by consumers.
The relationship between GPL and Wartsila dates back to 1992 with the first such plant at Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara. To date the company has installed 68.7 megawatts of Wartsila capacity, which continues to perform extremely well, a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release stated. According to the GINA release Dindyal said, “we have a very good and extensive track record and we expect that this relationship will grow as we continue to rely on Wartsila engines for our Demerara system.” Meanwhile, according to GINA, Vice-President, Wartsila Caribbean Inc Rodney George said that notwithstanding the challenges in the project in terms of delivery, the company will be working diligently to meet the August 31, 2011 deadline.
As regards the apparent secrecy of the recent contract signing, Dindyal said the reason the media were not invited was because there was a rush to get the contract signed. He said George arrived in Guyana on Sunday and Monday and Tuesday were used to tie up the necessary paperwork. He said that by the time the paperwork was completed, it was too late to arrange for all the press to be there so GINA was invited to publicize the signing of the contract. George left the country on Wednesday.
Dindyal said that while GPL hopes to have all the transmission tests completed by August, the media will be invited at some point prior to this to observe what is happening with the plant.
