US$50M, 46.5-MW power plant on track for April 2021 deadline

With the US$50 million 46.5-megawatt (MW) power plant on track for its April 2021 completion date, the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) is one step closer to providing more reliable electricity.

Prime Minister, Hon. Brigadier Mark Phillips made these statements today, after a guided tour of the power generation plant at Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara. He was accompanied by GPL’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Albert Gordon.

The state-of-the-art power plant being constructed by Wartsila will be dual fuel energy meaning it can utilize heavy fuel oil and natural gas simultaneously.

“With a project like this and many projects that we have planned, we will reach to a point where electricity will be 100 percent reliable and there will be no power outages,” Prime Minister Phillips said.

While the project is massive, the Prime Minister said the Government is looking to bring natural gas to shore which will revolutionize energy generation in Guyana.

“By the estimations of the studies done so far, the gas-to-shore project itself will increase by 200 megawatts to what we are getting now and by December 2024, we will have that project completed in Guyana,” the Prime Minister said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Executive Officer – Strategic Operations, Mr. Samaroo Ramtahal, said the project at Garden of Eden has four components. The first component, which entails the construction of the engines by Wartsila, is about 60 percent complete and is expected to be in Guyana by mid-November.

The second component entails the construction of below zero civil works. This segment is about 36 percent finished and will be completed when the engine is on the ground for commissioning in April 2021.

“The commissioning process is actually a lengthy process and the commissioning will start from February 2021. So, there will be testing from February to the end of April,” he explained.

The third phase, the DECO said, is the construction of the above ground civil works which will start this month with a scheduled completion date of April 2021. Component four deals with transporting the transmission, transformers and other pieces to the project.

“We are about two percent behind the project schedule, which is approximately a week delay and some of that is because of the COVID-19 restrictions, staffing and bad weather. So, we are very much on track to deliver this project for April of next year,” Mr. Ramtahal said.

The current engines at the power plant at Garden of Eden were constructed by Wartsila 26 years ago and have a capacity of over 22 MW.

By Isaiah Braithwaite