Cost to produce electricity will be cheaper after Wartsila

Cost to produce electricity will be cheaper after Wartsila – Ferguson

Feb 02, 2017 News

Wanting to be prudent and diligent in managing the affairs of the power sector, the Government supported the establishment of the Power Producers Distribution Incorporated (PPDI) – the company that has replaced Finnish company, Wartsila, in power generation.
This was according to the Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson, during the debate on a motion tabled by the opposition with regards to the performance of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) last Monday in the National Assembly.
Ferguson outlined some of the benefits of PPDI to GPL. She said that the cost for a megawatt-hours (MWH) of energy produced will be lower than what Wartsila had proposed.
She added also that the cost for spare parts will be significantly lower than what is being sold by Wartsila since the company will be buying the majority of spare parts from the original equipment manufacturer.
“All experienced workers that worked with Wartsila prior to the organisation change, are now on-board with PPDI. This testifies to the quality of services that will be delivered,” Ferguson said.
She also blamed the former administration of negligence at the GPL.
“The APNU+AFC inherited the negligence of the former Administration of the GPL. Maintenance cost for generation including Wartsila were in 2011, $2.02B; 2012, $2.36B; 2013, $2.13B; 2014, $2.46B; and in 2015 and 2016, $2.50B and $2.8B, respectively.”
An analysis of the numbers shows that $4.79B was spent on maintenance for power generation in 2015 and 2016 which is equivalent to 4.1 percent more than the preceding two years under the stewardship of the PPP/C, Ferguson explained.
Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, said that prior to the change of Government, 100 percent of the maintenance was being done by 100 percent Guyanese. Government was paying US$25,000 per day to Wartsila.
“There is nothing wrong and sinister. We are cutting overheads. The cost for services to GPL will be reduced,” Patterson told the House.
According to official records at the registry, the Power Producers and Distribution Inc. (PPDI) was formed last month but has two officials-—one director and one secretary.
The director is Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Balraj Balram. The Secretary and incorporator is attorney-at-law Ronald Burch-Smith.
On January 1, 2017, PPDI took over the operations of Wartsila that has been here for two decades and which has, overtime, been maintaining almost 20 engines for the State-owned GPL.
Those engines produce a major part of the power that GPL uses along the coastlands.
The Coalition government, one year after taking power, announced that it will not renew Wartsila’s maintenance contract.
Months later, the PPDI was established and has absorbed the 194 employees that Wartsila had.

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