GPL to be ready for operationalisation of Gas-to-Energy Project – Indar assures

Over the past few years, the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) has been investing heavily in upgrading existing infrastructure as well as installing new infrastructure in preparation for the operationalisation of the highly anticipated Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project, which is slated to deliver some 300 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the national grid. In light of the infrastructural upgrades, Public Utilities and Aviation Minister Deodat Indar related that state-owned power company will be ready for the off-take of power, which is expected by the end of this year.

“GPL will be prepared for that because we’ve been working for years now. It’s not today we started,” Indar explained during a recent appearance on the Starting Point podcast. He pointed out that more than US$720 million has already been invested to build out new infrastructure to facilitate the distribution of power from the GtE Project, located at Wales on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD), onto the national grid. These include the installation of new high-capacity transmission lines as well as the construction of a number of new substations and upgrading of existing ones.

The new infrastructure will see the power moving from the Wales site across the Demerara River to the Garden-of-Eden Substation, then to the newly built Goedverwagting Substation and then to the Sophia Substation. Power will also be sent from Wales to the Vreed-en-Hoop Substation, as well as from the Goedverwagting Substation all the way to Berbice via the newly installed transmission lines. In order to facilitate the installation of the new transmission lines, a new road network is being developed in the backlands along the East Coast corridor from the Goedverwagting Substation heading to Mahaicony in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice).

Only last Friday, Team Leader of the Executive Management Committee at GPL, Kesh Nandlall, led a delegation along the new energy corridor, traveling from Columbia, Mahaicony to Goedverwagting, as they conducted site inspections at Hope, Enmore, Chateau Margot and Goedverwagting, where new transmission lines are being constructed. Nevertheless, as GPL continues its preparatory works, the GtE Project is also on track to commence delivering power by December via a 300 MW combined cycle power plant. According to Indar, all of the components for the facility have already been procured, built and are either in the country or being shipped here. The 300 MW facility will be powered by four gas turbines, each producing 57 MW and two steam turbines supplying the remaining 72 MW.

The Public Utilities Minister explained, however, that the power plant will start up in phases to deliver the 300 MW of electricity. The plant is being designed with operational flexibility, allowing it to run initially in simple-cycle mode and later transition into a combined-cycle system that captures hot exhaust gases to produce additional electricity more efficiently. “We are on track for December… For the four [gas] turbines, it will be 228 MW. The new agreement with the contractor is saying they will have first power, first smoke, in December for one of the turbines. Three months after, the other three will come on board to give you 228. Then, I think two or three months after, you’ll get the two steam turbines to take you to 300 MW. That will come on stream,” he stated.

Currently, GPL has a total generating capacity of approximately 267 MW. With a customer base of some 244,500 and counting, peak demand is around 228 MW. But even as GPL is conducting these updates to modernise its infrastructure and install new equipment in preparation for power from the GtE Project, Minister Indar explained that planned and scheduled power outages are necessary to facilitate some of these works. Despite this, however, he pointed out that a large majority of the outages are caused by external factors, including the recurring incidents of contractors or vehicles coming into contact with major transmission lines, causing a trip in the system. “I can tell you… 99 per cent of the outages, if it’s not something that we publish, it’s because of one of those incidents – somebody digging something, digging up a wire, hitting some kind of pole, running into it, or some crane over it pouring cement. You see that every day, all the time. And I’m appealing to everybody who’s operating, take your time,” the Minister stated. Nonetheless, assured customers that with all these investments and upgrades being made, customers would soon start seeing improvements in power supply.

“I would say that when Gas-to- Energy comes on board, because you will have excess generation, you will find that even if you have a shock to the system, the frequency will not drop and become unstable. And you won’t have massive amounts of shutdowns, even if somebody hits it as well, because of the turbine technology that the Gas-to-Energy now employs,” Indar explained.

Only last week, Minister Indar was part of a team led by Prime Minister (PM) Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, which included Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat, to give Jamaican PM Dr Andrew Holness a tour of the GtE Project site. During the visit, Project Manager of Linsayca, Luis Pirela, updated the officials on the works, assuring that, “The target is to start power generation in December 2026. We’re working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays, to make sure this is achievable and to deliver power generation for Guyana.” Pirela had outlined the complex process underway at Wales, noting that the facility is designed to receive natural gas and separate it into different components to maximise value for Guyana. At the centre of the operation is methane, the primary gas component that will be used to fuel power generation and supply electricity to homes and businesses. The remaining gas components are condensed into liquids that can be recovered and stored for future use. Pirela said the site is now technically prepared for gas introduction, with commissioning activities advancing.

The gas processing facility is initially designed to handle 50 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, with infrastructure already installed to expand capacity to 120 million standard cubic feet daily in the future.