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Six emergency Caterpillar sets arrive
Four of the six Caterpillar generators at the John Fernandes Limited wharf yesterday.
– to be connected within 10 days
Six emergency Caterpillar generators which were diverted from earthquake-hit Japan are in Guyana, with the additional power expected to be connected within 10 days.
The extra 10 megawatts (mw) of power is critical to boost generation in especially the Demerara area which has been hard hit within recent months as the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) took off a number of engines for maintenance.
To compound matters, a 5.5mw Wartsila engine went down at the Garden of Eden operations, further reducing GPL’s already tight capacity.
During an inspection tour at the John Fernandes Limited wharf, where the six Caterpillar generator sets have been offloaded, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, whose portfolios include energy, admitted that the rising demand for power has been constantly engaging the attention of the administration with estimations saying that between 10-15mw is needed annually to satisfy demands.
While there installed engines have the capacity of over 100mw, the reality is that actual production is way below. Currently peak demand is around 74mw with not much room for further breakdowns.
GPL’s Chief Executive Officer, Bharrat Dindyal, who along with Chairman, Winston Brassington, and other board members were present, disclosed that the Caterpillar emergency sets were in Panama heading for use in Japan, when Guyana sent in its request for them.
The Caterpillar engines, whose local dealer is MACORP, will be on rent to the GPL.
It will take about 2-3 days to take the six sets to the Garden of Eden site where they will be hooked up one after the other.
Also at the wharf yesterday were MACORP’s CEO, Jorge Medina, and General Manager, Lyndon Bentick.
Dindyal noted that the engines will be the “perfect stop-gap solution”.
According to the Prime Minister, acquisition of additional power is always a question of money and taking into account that tariffs are not increased as a result.
The six units will now make it a total of 22 that GPL has…or about 30mw.
Earlier this week, GPL warned that there will be more blackouts as another engine goes out for maintenance.
A 5.5MW, No. 4 Unit at the Wartsila plant at Garden-of-Eden was released, from service for major maintenance.
According to GPL, the downtime is expected to be 10 days during which the major mechanical overhaul would be completed and the refurbished No. 3 alternator installed on the unit.
It was further explained by the power company that in the absence of the No. 4 Wartsila Unit, GPL would still have available capacity of 77MW. The recent peak demand has been 74MW but since the available capacity includes 23MW of suspect capacity, power outages would have to occur as a precaution.
In late August, two massive Wartsila engines, adding 15mw, are also expected to be commissioned.
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