GtE Project to deliver 57 MW by yearend; 50% bill reduction to come after project fully online – PM Phillips

The highly anticipated Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project is set to come onstream by the end of this year, delivering some 57 megawatts (MW) of electricity while the remaining power will be delivered during the first half of 2027, when Guyanese will start to benefit from lowered rates.

A 300 MW combined-cycle power plant is one of the main components, alongside a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility, of the GtE Project, which will bring natural gas from the Stabroek Block offshore to the Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD) site.

After missing several delays in the past, the contractor, United States (US)-based Lindsayca, has committed to start delivering the gas-powered electricity by this year-end.

“By the end of this year, we’ll see 57 megawatts. At least one of the turbines will be spinning and generating 57 megawatts, and in the first quarter of 2027, we’ll have up to 228 megawatts,” Prime Minister (PM) Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips disclosed during a press conference on Friday at his Camp Street, Georgetown, office.

The power generation component will utilise four SGT-800 gas turbines paired with heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) and steam turbines operating in a combined-cycle configuration to produce generation capacity of approximately 300 MW.

While the gas turbines are slated to all come online by mid-next year, the full 300 MW capacity will be achieved until the end of 2027 once the final combined-cycle configuration is completed.

The system has been engineered with built-in redundancy, allowing individual turbines to operate independently and be phased onto the national grid, which will ensure continuous and reliable power supply as well as a 50 per cent reduction in electricity costs.

According to PM Phillips, Guyanese will start benefiting from this reduction in electricity prices once the project is fully online – an election promise made by the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/).

“We said 50 per cent reduction at the end of the project and the project we’re talking about is Phase One. Phase One ends when we get 228 megawatts of power, and then you’ll get the 300 [megawatts] come from the steam [turbines] afterwards. So, when we achieve that, that’s Phase One,” he explained.

Currently, customers are receiving power from the national grid at $43.43 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for residential use and $56.38 per kWh for commercial use. The PM noted these figures will be slashed in half when the GtE Project is fully operationalised.

“[It will be] divided by two and that will be the new rate. So, the people of Guyana have to look forward to, whatever you’re paying now, you will pay half of that,” he posited.  “It’s a manifesto promise made in the 2020 Manifesto…and it was repeated in the 2025 Manifesto. And the PPP/C, we have a history of delivering on our Manifesto promises to the people of Guyana. So, at the end of it all, electricity rates will reduce by 50 per cent minimum.”