New company replaces Wartsila for GPL engines

Jan 05, 2017 News

It is official now. Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) has ended its management contract

Wartsila has been replaced by another company, Power Producer and Distribution Inc. (PPDI).

with Finnish-owned Wartsila.
A new company, Power Producer and Distribution Inc. (PPDI), was established in early December and from January 1, has taken over the operations of Wartsila, which during its two- decade-long relations, maintained engines which now total almost 20.
Over that period, Wartsila trained locals and collected hundreds of millions of dollars in fees.
Wartsila will remain in Guyana as it will still have to supply parts and provide other services to GPL.
According to Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, during 2016 review of his ministry, all of the local staffers have been retained by PPDI. They will be assisted by a number of Guyanese who have returned from overseas.
According to Patterson, the new company is headquartered in the same building that housed Wartsila in Kingston with better terms and enhanced maintenance, services and trading mechanisms expected under the new arrangements.
GPL Chairman, Robert Badal, in October had assured that it is not the plan for Wärtsilä to be out of the picture completely. Rather, Wärtsilä will remain a long-term partner as a supplier, among other things.
The company, which has been retained to manage and maintain generating sets since the 1990s, has built up a staffing complement of around 100. From its two engines at Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara, at the beginning there are now 18 generators across the Demerara and Berbice areas for GPL.
The power company, with a new management and Board since 2015, wants to reduce its costs, About a third of its power is being lost to technical issues and electricity theft.
It is facing increasing pressure to reduce outages from faulty transmission lines, old transformers and aging equipment.
GPL had denied that the hiring of Canadian-owned Manitoba Hydro International Ltd. (MHI) late last year, to assist with its management strengthening, had anything to do with the decision not to renew the Wärtsilä contract.
The Finnish company came here in the early 1990s when Guyana was struggling with widespread power outages because of a number of aging engines.
It established the first Government-owned plant at Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara and since then has installed more than 18 generators.
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) also has Wärtsilä engines at the Skeldon factory and there are more at Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast.
Under the arrangements, GPL would provide the fuel for the engines, while Wärtsilä through its local subsidiary, Demerara Power Limited, conducts the maintenance.

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