US$2.5M in additional energy for Christmas season – VP Jagdeo

Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has disclosed that US$2.5 million in energy has been outsourced to reduce the incidence of blackouts.

The Vice President made the disclosure at a press conference on Friday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.

“In the last couple of months, the Government has had to buy from Giftland about five megawatts of power that is coming into the system now for an emergency basis so we do not have blackouts between now and the time the baseload station comes on stream,” the Vice President stated.

He added that the Government “had to purchase another 10 megawatts of power through MACORP which will be here by the end of November for the Christmas season. That is for about US$2.5 million. That is to ensure we have emergency power as we approach Christmas and into the new year, depending on the establishment of the major baseload capacity.”

Dr. Jagdeo explained that those units will be used once the baseload comes and can be deployed countrywide.

The VP stressed that energy is critical to growth and to people’s welfare and that the previous Government failed to invest in major baseload capacity.

Unknowing to the public, he said, the previous administration paid Wartsila Operations Guyana Incorporated to build a power plant that would generate 46-megawatts of energy.

This was done without having the requisite infrastructure in place to house the engine.

Dr. Jagdeo noted that over the past three months, the Government has been working to get the necessary works completed.

“Right now, the 46 megawatts engine is here in the country but it will have to sit and wait for several months while the civil works are being done to accommodate the foundation works for the engine. There was no planning,” the VP stated.

Aside from that, Dr. Jagdeo said that it was later revealed that there was not enough power in the system to meet the demands.

However, he said, the Government is working aggressively to get the gas to energy project on stream in the next three years. Dr. Jagdeo added that the parameters for the initiative has been outlined after discussions with ExxonMobil.