Power ship now supplying 36 MW to national grid

The power ship docked at Everton, East Bank Berbice in Region Six is generating its maximum capacity of 36 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the national grid.

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc., noted that the ship completed its capacity test on Monday and is now supplying full power to the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS).

The significant boost will result in the reduction of service interruption previously experienced by citizens.

The ship was supplying some 35 MW of power as of Saturday.

Last week, it was generating 18 MW since one engine was connected to supply electricity to the transmission lines at the time.

The ship consists of two engines, each possessing 18 MW of power.

The floating power plant arrived in Georgetown on May 1 and sailed to Berbice on May 4 for the connection process to begin on the 69 kilovolts DBIS network.

The energy vessel was procured by the government to bring relief to citizens since there has been an increase in electricity demand which led to shortfalls and constant power outages across the country.

The government through GPL signed a multi-million-dollar contract with Urbacon Concessions Investments, W.L.L (UCI), a subsidiary of UCC Holdings in Qatar, in collaboration with Karpowership International to rent the ship for two years.

GPL signed the contract on April 13 and has already paid a mobilisation fee of US$1 million for the vessel’s rental.

The company will pay US 6.62 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) as a monthly charter fee for the powership, and a maintenance fee of US 0.98 cents per kWh, based on electricity generated.