2nd power ship will be operational in time for Christmas – GPL Head assures

The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) has assured that the second power ship, acquired to meet the growing demand for reliable electricity in Guyana, will be fully operational and connected to the national grid before Christmas.

The 75-megawatt (MW) power ship, which arrived in the Demerara River on Tuesday, is part of a two-year contract between GPL and the Joint Venture of Turkish-based Karpowership Global DMCC and Qatar-based UCC Energy International LLC.

In its first phase, the ship will contribute 60MW to the grid, with an additional 15MW to follow once an extra transmission line is completed.

GPL’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kesh Nandlall, during a telephone interview on Saturday, assured that the project is on track. “The works are ongoing and there’s a lot of work to be done. The power ship is here. It’s docked already.”

Preparatory works, including the construction of a 3.9-kilometre transmission line by a private contractor, are progressing on schedule.

GPL said in a recent notice, “…we have reached a critical phase which requires the stringing of conductors for the new Transmission Line. In order to facilitate this exercise, customers of John Fernandes Facility and D’aguiar Park will experience an interruption in power supply on Sunday, December 15, from 08:30hrs and 14:00hrs.”

According to Nandlall, workers are operating in shifts around the clock to meet the Christmas deadline.

“It’s board and the transmission lane has been constructed and they’re working around the clock on that. So now, as we said before, the power ship will be connected before Christmas,” the GPL boss added.

The second power ship will add to the 36MW provided by an existing floating power plant in the Berbice River, significantly increasing the country’s power generation capacity. GPL’s peak electricity demand has surged to 187MW, up from nearly 100MW in recent years, driven by new housing developments, industrial facilities, and commercial investments.

Only recently Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh noted the urgency of meeting skyrocketing electricity demand.

“There are new housing areas with hundreds of houses that are being brought onto the grid; we have new industrial and commercial investments including things like hotels, factories, warehouses, processing plants, etc. all of whom are coming onto the grid and demanding electricity. This has resulted in the skyrocketing electricity demand,” he said at the time.

Meanwhile, Nandlall had previously told this publication that two generators with an aggregate capacity of 13MW that are unavailable due to major overall will be back online by December 10 and 21. This he said will boost the generation capacity in the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) to 207MW.

The addition of the second power ship will boost GPL’s generation capacity to 207 MW, ensuring reliable electricity during the holiday season and beyond.