GtE project to be ready in 2026, electricity costs to drop by 50% – PM

Prime Minister Brigadier Retired Mark Phillips has assured that the Gas to Energy (GtE) project will be ready next year and will promptly deliver 50% reduction in electricity costs for citizens.

“Our flagship Gas to Energy project continues to advance with the pipeline already laid in Wales and construction ongoing for the 300mw combined cycle plant and natural gas liquid facility…once operational, electricity cost for all consumers on the national grid will be reduced by 50%,” the Prime Minister said over the weekend as he commissioned a solar farm at Prospect, Region Five.

“You will…benefit from that 50% reduction in the cost of electricity when we finish the gas to energy project, when we commission it and it starts producing electricity,” he reassured.

Earlier this month, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat had noted that contractors have increased daily working hours, with the aim of advancing the project in order to meet the extended deadline of mid-2026.

Located at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD), the GtE Project comprises a 300-megawatt (MW) combined cycle power plant and a natural gas liquids (NGL) facility that are being built to utilise the rich natural gas that will be piped from the Liza Field in the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana. That pipeline has already been laid by ExxonMobil, the United States (US) oil major that is leading production operations in the oil-rich Stabroek Block offshore Guyana and is now awaiting the completion of the GtE facility to bring the gas onshore. US-based Lindsayca was awarded the US$759 million contract to build the facility.

At the time of the award, however, Lindsayca was in a consortium with another US-based company, CH4. The two companies have since split due to internal disputes, resulting in Lindsayca Guyana taking full control of the project. Prior to the breakup, the consortium had been embroiled in an arbitration suit with the Guyana Government over a US$50 million claim being made by the contractor for delays in other aspects of the project that affected the timely delivery of the GtE facility. But according to Minister Bharrat, these issues have been sorted out, and the Government is working with the contractor to have the project completed in the new year.

According to PM Phillips, “I know we waiting a while, some people felt it should have been ready since 2025, but it will be ready in 2026”.

The GtE project is part of the government’s energy mix, to deliver clean, reliable, and cheaper electricity to citizens. “We will continue building hydropower in the interior, expanding solar farms on the coast, developing energy storage systems, upgrading distribution infrastructure…completing the gas to energy project, all aligned to a single mission and that mission is ensuring no community, no household, no business is left behind. Guyana is building an energy system for the next generation and one that is worthy of our ambitions,” the PM remarked.

He added that in the next five years, the government will be building out 100mw of renewable energy systems throughout the coastland and hinterland regions.