The Government has launched Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract to build the Guyana National Control Centre (GNCC), an important component in the overall gas-to-energy project.
The tender for the contract was issued by the Office of the Prime Minister and it invited eligible bidders to submit proposals for the construction of the GNCC. Bidders were given until April 27, 2023, to submit their proposals for the project, which will be an important supporting infrastructure when it comes to power generator.
It was explained that this GNCC project will support the integration of the new 300-megawatt (MW) Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant to be built in the Wales Development Zone (WDZ).
A CCGT plant is a major source of natural gas-fired power generation and would be a critical addition, seeing as the gas-to-energy project currently being developed will integrate natural gas into the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) national grid.
Government had previously said that the 300-megawatt gas-to-energy plant was expected to achieve commercial operation by the end of 2024, while the GNCC would be built at Eccles. During an American Chamber (AmCham) Energy Roundtable Discussion last year, Chief Executive Officer of GPL, Bharat Dindyal had said that the power will be transmitted as far as the Corentyne with the introduction of this facility.
“The power from the 300-megawatt [gas-to-shore project] is going to be transmitted from Wales to a new substation at Eccles via two 230-kilovolts transmission lines. From Eccles, there is going to be an interconnection for an existing substation at Sophia, but we hope that the 230kv transmission would be extended from Eccles to Williamsburg on the Corentyne…The hydropower connection would be from Amaila Falls to the Eccles site,” the CEO had outlined.
It had further been explained that GPL was working on a smart-grid proposal for the automation of the entire system. It would feature automation of transmission, distribution, generation, metering – all spearheaded through the national control centre at Eccles.
“That is going to be a state-of-the-art system, and by the time this is completed, we expect to have all of our isolated systems on the Essequibo Coast, Leguan, Wakenaam, Bartica, and even Linden integrated into the national grid,” Dindyal had further said.
In Budget 2023, the gas-to-energy project received a $43.3 billion allocation. This allocation is in addition to the $24.6 billion injected into the start-up of the transformational project, which includes the construction of an Integrated (Natural Gas Liquid) NGL Plant and the 300-megawatt (MW) Combined Cycle Power Plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD).
The NGL and 300MW power plant components of the gas-to-shore project, are meanwhile expected to cost US$759.8 million and will be financed through sources that include budgets and loan financing.
The scope of Guyana’s gas-to-energy project consists of the construction of 225 kilometres of pipeline from the Liza field in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where Exxon and its partners are currently producing oil.
It features approximately 200 kilometres of a subsea pipeline offshore that will run from Liza Destiny and Liza Unity floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels in the Stabroek Block to the shore. Upon landing on the West Coast Demerara shore, the pipeline would continue for approximately 25 kilometres to the NGL plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara.
The pipeline would be 12 inches wide, and is expected to transport per day some 50 million standard cubic feet (mscfpd) of dry gas to the NGL plant, but it has the capacity to push as much as 120 mscfpd.
The pipeline’s route onshore would follow the same path as the fibre optic cables, and will terminate at Hermitage, part of the Wales Development Zone (WDZ) which will house the gas-to-shore project.
