GPL to purchase 50 MW of power for national grid

Apr 18, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Even though the bulk of this year’s budget is channeled to the energy sector in a bid to hopefully ease the electricity woes the country continues to grapple with, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) is moving in the direction of purchasing power to add to the national grid.

Chief Executive Officer of GPL, Bharat Dindyal

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc. on Sunday said it is hunting for Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that can supply 50 Megawatts (MW) of electricity to the National grid, by March next year. This year, government allocated 29.4 billion to the energy sector. Major allocations within this amount include: $20.8 for the Gas-to-Energy project and $1.4 billion for the 33 MWs solar farms for Berbice, Essequibo, and Linden.
Nevertheless, an Expression of Interest (EOI), published in the state newspaper said, the 50 MW of power will interconnect with the 69kV (kilovolts) national grid and shall be split into two lots of 25 MW per installation. The earmarked 69 kV substations for interconnection are New Sophia and Canefield.
Although the EOI was published, the company was keen to note that the advertisement does not constitute an invitation to tender. It added that only power companies deemed qualified by GPL will receive details, guiding the next steps of the process.
GPL said, “the state-owned electric utility company, invites technically and financially sound IPPs to submit an EOI to supply a total of 50 MW HFO-fired Firm Power Generating Capacity (gross) on a 24 hour basis with appropriate substations to interconnect with the 69 kV National Grid (the project) by March 2023 for a period of three years.”
The company said that companies must demonstrate the ability to deliver a complete project and be ready to commission within six months of approval. Importantly, a suitable candidate would have to provide details of a project completed successfully of similar scope within the last 10 years and, have the ability to finance the project.
GPL’s power supplier shall be responsible for all activities, which include transport to and set up at site, operate and maintain the power generating facility, test and decommission, among others.
Recently, the power company complained of its high operational cost, signaling that there may be a need to hike the electricity bills, if customers did not reduce their power consumption. The climb in operation expenditure for the company came amidst the ongoing Russia and Ukraine war. Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo later laid those concerns to rest, assuring that Guyanese would not see an increase to their monthly bills. Back in January 2020, GPL inked a power purchase agreement with businessman, Roy Beepat, to supply the national grid with 4.5 MW of electricity. The added power augmented the 120 megawatts that GPL was supplying to the power grid.
The proprietor of Giftland Mall had stated that his power generating system has the capacity to share some 4.5 megawatts with the Guyana Power and Light, depending on the time of day. He explained that while Giftland has 6.7MW of power, only 1.6MW is used during optimal operations.
It was later revealed that an estimated $34 million each month was being forked out to purchase the badly needed power from the Giftland Mall, to compensate for the shortfall of electricity. Beepat said that the power itself would cost around $9.9 million per month while fuel cost is estimated to be $29.5 million.

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