The Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) new 46.5 MW generating facility at Garden of Eden (GoE), East Bank of Demerara will not be ready for an April commissioning.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar recently told this newspaper that the project has suffered several delays due to unfavourable weather conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic. The new deadline for commissioning is June this year.
“They had encountered some delays due to the rains as the sub surface infrastructural work could not have been completed in time and then the presence of COVID-19 caused some delays also,” the Minister said. The generators arrived here last November and there had been concerns that GPL had not advanced civil works sufficiently enough for the efficient installation and commissioning. Indar had pointed out in August last year that only 14% of the civil works had been done. Bridging generation had to be found to deal with the increased power demand as the 46.5 MW could not be tapped.
During a visit yesterday to the site, Stabroek News observed that a significant amount of work had been done and the generators had been installed.
Back in November, the power company received five generators from Finland. The five Wärtsilä generators can each generate 9.3 MW of power and were recently installed on site. The project cost is pegged at US$52 million.
In October last year, Prime Minister Mark Phillips was given a tour of the GoE facility. Ryon Ross, Divisional Director of Engineering Services had explained then that the power plant will be a dual fuel power generator. He stated that with the expectation of Guyana tapping into natural gas from offshore petroleum operations, the power plant is built to work with both Heavy Fuel Oil and natural gas.
The old power generation plant had been costing GPL a large amount of money to maintain. He noted, too, that with the generators being old, they are no longer efficient and finding spare parts at times can be difficult. The power plant was constructed in the 1970s and is equipped with engines that are over 26 years old.
Ross had said that GPL does not plan on abandoning the old power plant when the new one comes on stream as they will need all the electricity generated for the national grid.
Ross also told the Prime Minister that while they are accustomed to seeing a high demand for power on the East Coast, in Georgetown and some sections of the East Bank of Demerara, they have noticed an increase in demand in areas such as Kuru Kururu and along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. He explained that this demand is not surprising since more people are constructing and occupying lands in those areas.
