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– New plant to significantly reduce interruptions
Work on the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) state of the art Power Plant at Garden of Eden (GoE) is moving apace and is approximately 58 per cent complete, a statement from the Power Company said Thursday.
The project which is scheduled to be completed in April 2021 will significantly reduce service interruptions via the addition of reliable generating capacity to the grid.
During a site visit on Wednesday, November 11, 2020, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GPL, Albert Gordon; Divisional Director of Engineering Services, GPL, Ryan Ross and other officials of the company, inspected the new generating sets that were shipped from Finland on October 12, 2020 and arrived at the John Fernandes Wharf on November 5, 2020.
It was highlighted that the project will enable the Company to add an additional 46.5 megawatt to the grid from five Wartsila generators with a capacity of 9.3 megawatt each.
Minister Indar said that the five generators, which arrived in Guyana last week, is a groundbreaking achievement for the government.
“The five sets are what we spoke of when we came into government. We worked with GPL within our first 100 days in Office and we tried to get the sets here as early as possible so that we can focus on the civil works which are ongoing,” the Minister said.
The Minister noted that in addition to the 46.5 megawatts from the GoE plant, an additional five megawatts from Giftland and another 10 megawatts which is being procured will boost the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) with a total of 61 megawatts. This is expected to help the Company to meet its demand and spend less on maintenance activities.
Meanwhile, GPL’s CEO Albert Gordon explained that the project, which is the largest for the company, is very significant for GPL and Guyana. He pointed out that the project provides additional capacity and will allow the Company to have more reserve margins.
“Over the years we have been working with very slim reserve margins and when generators trip there are interruptions in supply to customers because we do not have enough back up capacity or reserve for other generators to pick up the load,” Gordon said.
Additionally, the CEO said the plant is strategically located at Garden of Eden so in the event of GPL losing the submarine cable, the entire DBIS system will not shut down since there will be enough capacity to offset the demand on both sides of the Demerara River.
The 46.5 megawatt plant is the beginning of the transition to natural gas. The five generators are designed to utilize both natural gas and fuel oil (light and heavy).
Divisional Director of Engineering Services, Ryan Ross said that the project team is working assiduously to complete the project on schedule.
“We are in the process of upgrading the GoE 69kV switchyard and other transmission and distribution systems so that we can have an efficient offtake and dispatch of this 46.5 megawatt. The switchyard was constructed in1974, there were extensions in the 1990’s but no significant upgrades to date,” Ross explained.
However, civil works are ongoing and the major engine foundations and piling works were completed. Additionally, in excess of 1000 22-25m piles have been driven to date.
GPL remains committed to providing a reliable supply of electricity to its customer base.
