PM says Guyanese to benefit from significant increase in electricity generation

– Gas to energy project set for 2024 completion-

Prime Minister, Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips this afternoon said that Guyanese can expect to benefit from an exponential increase in electric power over the next four years.

The Prime Minister made these comments during a guided tour of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), Garden of Eden Power Station, where he also inspected the progress of a 46.5-megawatt power plant being built by Wärtsilä.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of April 2021 at a cost of approximately US$52 million.

Additionally, it was pointed out that Guyanese can also expect to benefit from the generation of 200 megawatts of power with a gas to energy project which is expected to be completed by December 2024. The country’s peak demand for power at this time is 125 megawatts.

The Prime Minister said the Government will continue to support the strategic development of GPL, to the benefit of all Guyanese.

“I want to compliment the CEO, Deputy CEO and all the other staff of GPL for the hard work that they are putting in 24 hours a day to keep the lights on in Guyana. With a project like this and many projects that we have planned for the future, we will reach to a point where electricity will be 100 percent reliable and there will be no power outages”.

According to Mr. Ryan Ross, Divisional Director (Projects), GPL, the new power plant is a modern dual fuel facility that will be able to utilise heavy fuel oil and natural gas simultaneously.

Additionally, Mr. Gary Hall, Divisional Director, Administration of Power Producers and Distributors limited (PPDI), said there has already been a significant overhaul to the power generation system for 2020, which will result in a stable supply of power by December.

“We have had to do eleven overhauls this year… we have at least three to finish before the end of the year, all of our maintenance activity should be finished on or before the first week of December, so we should have full generation availability”.

Also present during the tour of the facility was Chief Executive Officer of GPL, Mr. Albert Gordon.