Legal constraints restrict the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) from purchasing electricity from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) but the utility is working with government to find a solution, Chief Executive Officer Albert Gordon says.
He was at the time addressing a press conference on Wednesday to update the general public on ongoing power outages.
Gordon said that GPL has commenced discussions with two potential suppliers – Banks DIH and Giftland – to purchase power.
Currently, the two companies use Heavy Fuel Oil to power generators for their own operations and according to Gordon, they both have a substantial amount of capacity.
“For Banks, I think they have installed just about 10 Megawatts (MW) but they normally use most of their power in the day and during our evening peak, they normally have an excess. So we asked them very early [and] they weren’t as enthusiastic but the discussions continued and up to recently there were some technical issues with the connection but also they have started running their generators during the period we would want power,” Gordon said.
He said while currently the amount of electricity GPL would be able to purchase from the company would not be significant, an interconnected grid with other producers would work out positively since having an interconnected system would also allow GPL to sell electricity to the company.
As it relates to Giftland, Gordon related that GPL has been engaging the company and so far they have negotiated terms but there are constraints that they are working through with Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson.
“There are some legal constraints in the Act and it speaks to an IPP being above 10 MW and what you can buy from them and at what price. There are some legal constraints, which the government is assisting us to work through but there is a price issue as well. The law requires us, and even without the law we wouldn’t want to buy power that is too expensive, but buying power even if it is a little more expensive is better than having power cuts,” Gordon said. He added that they are continuing the negotiations and hope that the issues would be resolved.
They are currently at the stage where they have an agreement subject to resolution of the aforementioned issues with Giftland, and Gordon said he sees them being resolved soon as they do intend to have an interconnected system “and in a general sense we are open to interconnecting.”
“In this instance, where we need the capacity desperately, we can have an interconnection agreement and negotiate a price that is acceptable for both parties going forward,” he emphasised. The power chief added that going forward, the company’s policy is to have as many persons as possible interconnected to the grid.
Meanwhile, as it relates to using natural gas for electricity production, Gordon said that various studies have been done through the ministry to determine the feasibility of such a move, as well as the best sites, and they have adopted a strategy that is consistent with this.
As a result, they will be procuring dual-fuel engines that would be able to use natural gas as well as oil but GPL does not yet have a firm date on when natural gas would be integrated in the system.
