Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Power and Light Inc., Kesh Nandlall, has assured that the power ship will be operationalised during the course of tonight, adding some 36-megawatts of new capacity to the national grid.
“We are here and we are testing…We are coming on tonight. I don’t know exactly what time, but we are coming on tonight unless something major happens, which we don’t expect,” Nandlall told this publication.
“So far everything is normal but they have to do certain tests but they are taking a little bit longer than planned. The plan is to come on tonight and we are working towards that,” he added.
Over the past two weeks, GPL has been preparing the necessary infrastructure for the 36-megawatt power ship to be connected to the national grid.
The floating power plant arrived in Guyana on May 1 and has been docked at Everton on the East Bank of Berbice in Region Six, where it will then be connected to the Demerara Berbice Interconnected System.
Last month, GPL signed a multi-million-dollar deal with Qatar-based Urbacon Concessions Investments, W.L.L (UCI) for the rental of the 36-megawatt floating power plant for two years in a move to add much-needed capacity to the grid.
The state-run power company has been experiencing generation shortfalls due to an unprecedented rise in electricity demand coupled with challenges from its aged equipment. In March, two of GPL’s engines failed disrupting power generation across the country.
As it is, GPL is currently generating about 165 megawatts of power. However, the peak demand is about 180 megawatts.
