Forty-four months into the life of his administration and amid growing public exasperation at the instability of the power supply, President Irfaan Ali yesterday lamented the deficit of technical personnel at GPL and said that he is currently engaged with the utility to address this and other issues.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the swearing in of members of the Constitutional Reform Commission, President Ali said that in light of the frequent power outages and generation shortfall, the company needs a full complement of technical support.
“There is a human resources gap we have to get more engineers, more linesmen and technicians, we have to get those urgently because of the demand in the system. GPL had published vacancies for these positions but no one has come as yet, but I was to made to understand that they are putting out these vacancies again, and if we don’t get anyone then we will have to explore the option of getting technical help outside”, Ali told reporters.
Yesterday was the first time that the administration had raised the shortage of personnel as a dire need and it came after weeks of breakdowns across the power system
The President told reporters that during a meeting on Tuesday with the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), Power Producers and Distributors Incorporated (PPDI) – which manages key generators – and Finnish company, Wärtsilä, he raised concerns about these recurring issues and demanded that all parties devise a viable solution as soon as possible.
While expressing his disappointment at the performance of the state power utility company Ali acknowledged the myriad problems inherited, the exponential growth in demand, aged assets, and lack of redundancy in transmission.
He remarked, “The problem is multi-faceted, firstly we are dealing with issues of aged infrastructure some of these generators are 30 years old, we are dealing with a situation of maintenance, for five years there was no maintenance so you have that to catch up with”.
“The other challenge we are dealing with is the exponential growth in the sector itself as to what is happening in the country”, the President continued.
“This year alone in addition to the shortfall which we have in generating capacity we are projecting another energy demand of 35 megawatts so that will take total demand by the end of this year to 220 MW that is on the system right now”, Ali told reporters.
“Currently we are supposed to be generating 165 megawatts, but there are tremendous difficulties in terms of meeting that demand due to trucks and vehicles damaging the networks because of the construction and accidents taking place”, he lamented.
Bundle
“All of these issues are being dealt with in a bundle as you know we also have challenges in terms of power transmission. We are working towards finding the appropriate mechanisms to address this issue so that we can meet the energy demand”.
The Head of State said that the Government has already engaged UK Export Finance (UKEF) to explore financing options for the transmission which will be extended to Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice).
According to Ali, he is in discussions with the organization as it relates to financing an upgrade plan on transmission lines in the region, as those lines currently are encountering challenges.
When pressed by the media for a ballpark figure to facilitate works on these transmission lines, Ali said he would not be able to disclose the actual amount but based on approximation it will be costly.
Additionally, the President told reporters that he asked the utility company to consider options to provide bridging energy to meet the demand while waiting for the completion of the Wales Gas to Energy Project.
According to Ali, the Dominican Republic may likely aid the country in terms of technical support, if the state electricity company is unsuccessful in getting locals to do the job.
Former Minister of Public Works David Patterson yesterday criticized President Ali for attributing the current power supply problems being experienced by GPL to the former APNU+AFC government under which he held the ministerial portfolio for power.
In a letter in yesterday’s Stabroek News, Patterson said that although GPL was operating on a much smaller budget during the coalition’s time in office, it was in a better state.
According to him, though there were challenges at GPL when his government left office, those challenges were slated to be rectified.
Patterson stated that “the status of our power sector remains a matter of national concern, I would readily admit that by June 2020, there were several outstanding challenges still to be resolved, however, the company was heading in the right direction with a very limited budget. With Guyana’s increased resources and the importance of this sector to our national development, one would have expected some increased momentum in fixing GPLs problems – in contrast, significant progress has all been reversed in recent years”.
The Opposition member said although the Ali-led administration is aware of the challenges facing the power utility company, it has neglected the organization and has directed its attention to the highly touted Wales gas-to-energy project.
He rejected the government’s claim that the coalition had abandoned the power company. The Shadow Minister of Public Works said that GPL under the coalition administration procured brand-new generating sets which increased the generating capacity of the company by 50%.
He pinpointed in his letter that the state power utility company’s board report on the performance of the previous CEO Bharrat Dindyal stated that “GPL has over the last few years written off over 10 generator sets which were destroyed due to poor operation, catastrophic failure due to the lack of proper maintenance, and fire.”
“That was the status of the GPL generating capacity in 2015. During the next four years, GPL under the coalition administration procured 63 MW of brand-new generating sets, increasing the generating capacity of the company by 50%, a never-before-seen expansion in generating capacity in such a short period – with no oil revenue”, Patterson said.
In contrast, he said that under the PPP/C, the company has procured 17 third-hand containerized sets of unknown quality and procurement methodology. Five months after this purchase, only four sets are operational, it is understood the remaining sets have several defects, which have rendered them ineffective – a prime example of poor technical management, Patterson argued.
In 2018, Patterson said that via the then Ministry of Finance, Guyana gained access to a US$900M line of credit from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).
“The first request to utilize these funds was a loan of US$110M for GPL to construct new substations, a new additional transmission and distribution network, as well as upgrading the existing power infrastructure”
“As expected, on assuming office, the PPP cancelled the loan application without reason. Without a doubt, if this application was allowed to progress to implementation, several of the challenges now facing GPL would have been eliminated – another example of the Government throwing away the baby with the bath water in the name of politics”, he remarked.
Minister in the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar on Tuesday told reporters that 9 of the 17 used generators purchased for US$27m have been installed, with six more being installed shortly and the remaining two afterwards.
These generators were supposed to have been in place since last year but were delayed by a series of problems including shipping.
The purchase of these carbon fuel generators has also raised other questions by the public.
