—10-megawatts to be supplied by MACORP
The Government of Guyana has outsourced some US$2.5M in energy to reduce the spate of blackouts in the country, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said Friday at a press conference held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
“In the last couple of months, the Government has had to buy from Giftland about five megawatts of power that is coming into the system now for an emergency basis so we do not have blackouts between now and the time the baseload station comes on stream,” the Vice President stated.
He said Government “had to purchase another 10 megawatts of power through MACORP which will be here by the end of November for the Christmas season. That is for about US$2.5 million. That is to ensure we have emergency power as we approach Christmas and into the new year, depending on the establishment of the major baseload capacity.”
Jagdeo explained that those units will be used once the baseload comes and can be deployed countrywide noting that energy is critical to growth and to people’s welfare.
The Vice President said that over the past three months, the Government has been working to get the necessary works completed.
“Right now, the 46 megawatts engine is here in the country but it will have to sit and wait for several months while the civil works are being done to accommodate the foundation works for the engine. There was no planning,” he told reporters.
That aside, Jagdeo said that it was later revealed that there was not enough power in the system to meet the demands.
However, he said, the Government is working aggressively to get the gas to energy project on stream in the next three years, the parameters of which have been outlined after discussions with ExxonMobil. (Modified from DPI)
