GPL yesterday said that the power ship moored off of Everton in the Berbice River is supplying 18 MW to the electricity grid and will incrementally move to 36 MW during the coming week.
In a deal brokered by a Qatari company, the ship arrived from Cuba last week and the hook-up to the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) was done over the last few days.
Faced with a shortfall in power generation, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) scrambled to find power urgently even after hooking up second-hand generators that arrived from Honduras last year.
GPL on April 18 announced the terms of the agreement it signed with Urbacon Concessions Investments, W.L.L (UCI) to charter the power ship for a period of two years.
“The contract includes the provision of operation and maintenance services as part of the agreement…The contract requires GPL to pay UCI a fee of 6.62 US cents per kWh as a monthly charter fee for the powership and a monthly operation and maintenance fee of 0.98 US cents per kWh, based on electricity generated,” GPL had said in a statement as it pointed to the US$1 million mobilisation fee.
It is unclear how the mobilisation fee is amortized over the two-year period, into the cost per kWh.
On May 1 the power ship arrived in Guyana’s waters. A statement issued by the power company announced that the ship would be connected to GPL’s grid at 69 kV.
The government has said that there will be no additional charge to consumers from the ship.
GPL has been blasted for rolling blackouts because of a shortfall in power and frequent transmission and distribution issues.
Meanwhile, the government is exploring another power purchase agreement similar to the current one it has with the power ship company but this time for some 30 megawatts more until the Gas to Energy project is completed, as it forecasts increasing demands next year, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said on Thursday.
“We are still looking for an additional 30 MWs of power into the system, in a similar way to the arrangement we have with Karpowership, that is for two years , until the Gas to Energy [project] comes on stream and is able to supply enough power to the country”, Jagdeo told a press conference he hosted at Freedom House.
