President Irfaan Ali today announced that Cabinet had issued its no-objection to CH4/Lindsayca being ranked number one to build a 300 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Plant at Wales, West Coast Demerara (WCD), under an Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) Contract.
In a statement, Ali said that Cabinet’s no-objection will now allow negotiations to proceed to conclude an EPC contract. Power China was ranked number two and may be engaged if negotiations fail to conclude a contract with Lindsayca by the end of November, he added.
Earlier this year, he noted that nine firms were publicly pre-qualified to bid on the EPC contract. A Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued to these pre-qualified bidders. At the closing date of September 13th, five bids were received. These bids were evaluated for technical compliance and ranking by Stantec and Worley, two global engineering firms with expertise in oil and gas, the President said. Based on the reports of these international firms, an Evaluation team of three people, including a representative of Exxon, was appointed. He said that the Evaluation Team conducted the evaluation in accordance with the technical and economic criteria set out in the RFP. On the basis of the bids submitted and clarifications received, the Evaluation Team unanimously ranked CH4/Lindsayca as number one, and Power China as number two.
Ali said that contract negotiations will now start with the expectation that a deal will be executed before the end of November. Key considerations in the evaluation, he said, took account of the expected date of delivery of the 300 MW power plant by December 2024. Both top-ranked companies confirmed this deadline. The EPC Contract will be supervised by a global supervision firm, Engineers India Limited.
Ali said that contract negotiations will now start with the expectation that a deal will be executed before the end of November. Key considerations in the evaluation, he said, took account of the expected date of delivery of the 300 MW power plant by December 2024. Both top-ranked companies confirmed this deadline. The EPC Contract will be supervised by a global supervision firm, Engineers India Limited.
According to the President, the 300 MW power plant and NGL plant will be owned by the Government of Guyana. Prior to the conclusion of the construction, he said that an international firm will be competitively selected to operate the project to international standards and best practices. Exxon is expected to deliver the completed pipeline to the power plant by the fourth quarter of 2024, to achieve commissioning and testing of the 300 MW power plant by the end of 2024. He said that the Gas to Energy Project is expected to deliver power at less than half of the current costs. “Project generation costs, taking account of payment for the pipeline, operations and maintenance (O&M), and capital cost recovery, shall total less than five (5) US cents per kilowatt-hour”, he said.
“Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Guyanese this is a significant movement forward in Guyana, not only achieving energy security, but us achieving an important benchmark that is a reduction in our energy costs so that our manufacturing and industrial development and expansion can take place and so that the ordinary families and the ordinary people can feel a substantial reduction in the cost of electricity in their pockets and in their household. Just for reference, a family at the end of this project that now pays GY$20,000 per month in light bill or electricity costs will see that costs coming down to GY$10,000”, the President declared.
He said that this government has committed to full transparency and accountability on this project and to sharing information with the public and all stakeholders as soon as it becomes available.
On its website, the Texas, US-based Lindsayca said it was founded in 1995 through private equity and family ownership. It said that Lindsayca has rapidly expanded initially in Venezuela, providing services to both state- and privately-owned clients in the upstream and downstream energy sector.
“The hard-working ethics of the owners and their values of excellence, safety and integrity have rapidly developed a strong professional organization with a proven track record of delivering quality projects within strict time, financial and regulatory requirements”, it said.
The CH4 Group describes itself as an “Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC), project management, operation and maintenance group of companies, with extensive experience in the areas of the electric power, oil, gas, petrochemical, mining and infrastructure”.
