The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) is receiving assistance from the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) to address its current power generation problems and the results will be seen soon, according to Executive Director of CARILEC Dr Cletus Bertin.
“We identified some areas of assistance for GPL that will actioned in the coming weeks… it pertains to generation transmission and distribution and we have pledged to offer support and assistance,” Dr Bertin told Sunday Stabroek in an interview.
Dr Bertin, who was here for the recent Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit & Exhibition (GIPEX), would not expound on what the support entails as he explained that he wanted the country’s power company to make the announcement.
This newspaper contacted GPL’s Public Relations Officer Shevonne Sears-Murray, who promised to return a call but up to press time had not done so.
Established in 1989 with nine members as part of an electric utilities modernisation project funded by USAID, CARILC is an association of utilities, suppliers and other stakeholders from across the region. It boasts over 100 members from 60 countries.
“CARILEC will enhance the effectiveness of its members by providing industry-related services, creating regular networking, training and knowledge sharing opportunities; supporting mutual assistance programmes and accelerating the Caribbean Region’s energy sector transition, through innovation and advocacy,” Dr. Bertin said as he read the association’s mission statement.
Dr Bertin noted that during his visit here, he had meetings with a number of persons, including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GPL Albert Gordon, who also sits on the association’s Board, head of the Guyana Energy Agency Mahender Sharma, and Director of the Department of Energy Dr Mark Bynoe, and an “overarching” complaint was the lack of finances to institute development programmes in the power sector.
He said that GPL’s CEO has disclosed the challenges faced pertaining to power outages and plans for development, even as he sought assistance from association’s members. “We obviously do not get involved in the direct operations on the ground of our members. We facilitate in the national level learning development and exchange of expertise but I did have discussions with the CEO of GPL and also met with Dr Sharma, Dr Bynoe and Dr Aaron Fraser of PPDI [Power Producers and Distributors Inc].
“From everyone I heard about generation capacity and the challenges being faced… the consensus is that more investment in needed to address generation capacity, which in turn will address the planned shortages.
“Hopefully from the spinoffs from the oil and gas revenue, there will be the investment in the grid; upgrading of the grid and we say transmission and distribution and managing that delivery. Your situation is clearly not where it needs to be, but I think from the feedback that I have gotten and the plans heard, I think there is light at the end of the tunnel… Guyana is poised for a major economic growth, based on all projections, and we would be hopeful that the decision makers and resource allocators ensure that the building the sector is a priority. I, from the feedback, think they will,” he added.
Although he said that he does not mean to “lessen the impact” of the daily struggles faced by the populace as it pertains to the unreliability of its power supply, Dr Bertin said that it must be understood also that the situation is not to unique Guyana.
He further said that CARILEC has always stood ready to assist member countries but Guyana never before sought to make optimal use of that support system. However, over the last few years CARILEC has seen active participation from Guyana. He made reference to Guyana going from having no representation at some of the meetings and conferences held in the past to six persons attending CARILEC’s last energy conferences in Miami, Florida. “We have seen greater participation…,” he said.
GPL also sought recent help from CARILEC in its bid to source Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to resolve the shortfall in demand that had resulted in a number of countrywide blackouts.
“We were made aware of that requirement and have been providing assistance in helping of the sourcing of the 5% sulphuric content oil. This is unfolding and I want you to know that the network has been activated and possible sources for that required fuel is being sought; that is, we made the request known on our network and I know that Petrotrin had stepped and we are all networking other possible sources,” he said.
Dr. Bertin said that while all of this country’s generators use fossil fuels, he also knows that there is a plan to transition to renewable energy and there is much that Guyana could gain from CARILEC in this regard. “We do not get involved but we do provide facilitating and fostering relationships among members, providing that technical support. GPL has asked and we are well poised to provide assistance to help; that is, of best practice lessons learned from others, we have regulatory, have networking opportunities where members get to learn from other’s experiences so that they do not make the same mistakes. We have an online portal called CAREX, which focuses on renewable energy and its community is quite big, with Rocky Mountain, the Clinton Foundation and many others. That platform has grown over the years to 1,200 members in 60 countries and close to 40 utilities. We have had over 50 webinars…so with that is one of the ways we provide a knowledge share for our members,” he said.
“Guyana has plans for renewables and that is tied to their Green State Plan (Green State Development Strategy but that too needs the funding as I explained and is where the money, we hope, from the oil revenues that you will soon be getting could go to see that being realised,” he added.
Dr. Bertin said the realities are that the global energy landscape is changing towards renewables and alternative sources of energy and that is why the body would like to see not just Guyana but all members prepared to meet and serve those changes. “Not just Guyana but CARILEC itself has to evolve in that manner so we are at the cutting edge of that change,” he said.
