By Antonio Dey
Five of the generators which are projected to boost the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) output for the Christmas season have been installed.
The Sunday Stabroek yesterday paid a visit to the utility company’s substation at Columbia, East Coast Demerara and observed several of the generators valued at some US$27 million being connected to the power grid.
GPL Executive and Management Committee member, Kesh Nandlall, informed that five of the 17 generators have been installed thus far which means that the utility company will have some extra generation just in time for Christmas Day but not the full 28.9 megawatts.
Asked if the generators installed will alleviate the constant power outages nationwide in time for Christmas which is just a day away, Nandlall said that not all the generators will be installed in time for the festive season.
“We have a few engines that were connected yesterday [Friday) and today [Saturday], so we want to ensure that we have a sufficient power supply for the holidays So far, we are looking good, the team from Apan and GPL are working assiduously,” Nandlall told this newspaper.
He is also optimistic, based on approximation, that five of the 17 generators will now enable GPL’s generating capacity to handle the seasonal peak demand. This was confirmed by Bharat Harjohn, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, who is also in charge of Strategic Operations.
“The generators that you see being installed are to assist GPL, with its peak demand for the holidays, and we are working round the clock this evening to ensure that five of the seventeen generators are commissioned,” Harjohn informed.
“With that coming on stream, it will put us in a great position in terms of power generation capacity for the holidays,” he added.
The heavy fuel oil generators from Honduras had experienced several shipping delays. They were first expected here on November 22nd and then December 5th before finally arriving on December 13th.
Several project engineers from Apan Energy Service Inc and the Guyana Power Light Company were on-site monitoring and assisting with the installation of the generators.
The Sunday Stabroek spoke with an engineer from Apan Energy who said that works are moving smoothly.
The Columbia station is in the Mahaica/Mahaicony area and the generators will feed into the Demerara/Berbice Inter-connected System (DBIS).
Amid constant blackouts caused by increased electricity consumption and a generator being out for maintenance, GPL procured 17 reconditioned containerized generators from Honduras.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, at a press conference in November said that the cause of the load shedding was due to heightened demand and the 7.8-megawatt engine that was taken off for maintenance at the Kingston location.
“So, because we have pulled down that 7.8-megawatt engine at Kingston to do the general overall, it has taken off our reliable capacity by 7.8 megawatts,” the minister disclosed.
He informed, “Right now, in terms of all of the engines that we have either at Garden of Eden, Kingston, Canefield, and Skeldon, together we have the reliable operating capacity of 167 megawatts.
“So, because of that shortfall, we see some blackouts. When the problem started, the peak demand was 184.5 megawatts, it was bigger, the shortfall was bigger, we see the peak now reducing,” Indar had told reporters at the press conference.
While GPL is anticipating an average peak usage of around 236 megawatts by 2024, the minister also informed that the power company has already received unsolicited offers from individuals with capacity and proposals.
According to Indar, those offers will be carefully evaluated to meet the growing demand in 2024.
