If the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) had stuck to a proposed plan that would have seen it add between 20 to 25 mega-watts of power annually to the grid, it would not be in the “dilemma” it is in and rushing to buy reconditioned generator sets to meet increased demands, former minister of Public Works David Patterson said yesterday.
And knowing that the country was on a trajectory to decrease the use of heavy fuels, the generator sets would have been dual powered to allow for the changeover, instead of continuing with HFO usage, as will be the case with the 17 used generators GPL said it was procuring from Honduras, Patterson contended.
“They used a power generating study we had left to justify the gas to power project. However, that same study showed that we needed 20MW to 25MW per annum since 2018, to keep with normal average demand. As a good government they should have put measures in place to have at least 15 to 20 [MW] per year, up to this point and to keep up with the demand,” Patterson told the Stabroek News yesterday.