9 out of 17 new generators on grid - Min. Indar

9 out of 17 new generators on grid – Min. Indar

Mar 28, 2024 News

Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar.

– as blackout continues to plague oil-rich Guyana

Kaieteur News – Nine out of the seventeen generators recently acquired by the Guyana Power and Light are currently on the grid. This was disclosed by Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar on Wednesday during a telephone interview with this newspaper.

Even with these added sources of electricity frequent blackouts and power outages continue to plague this oil-rich nation. This publication reached out to Minister Indar to get some clarity on the situation. The minister was asked to provide an update on the new generators that GPL recently acquired and if they were already added to the grid. “Not all of them, not all of them on the grid, actually nine of them on the grid, all are on the planks let me clear it… All of them are on the planks, because I want to make sure you get my information correct. So all are set up and are on the planks (but) nine of them are on the grid, five of them should be added again to the grid sometime during the new week,” he said.

“There were some electrical works that have to be done and the exhaust and everything have been installed. The fuel tanks and so just some electrical works need to be done to have five more. And then we have three more that will complete the 17 should be done before the end of April. That is the latest update as of Tuesday afternoon at four,” the minister added.

He was also asked about the frequent blackout being experienced across the country. Indar said that, “Yes that is the case, I asked GPL to put out a statement, there were three last week that is why I asked you when. Early last week, it would have been because we had two engines at the Power Producers Distribution Inc, (PPDI) two engines totalling 13 megawatts were down. Both engines experienced failures, one with a bearing and one with another issue and those were out of PPDI.”

Furthermore, during last week, “one of the 46 or the new one that was purchased under the APNU that engine came with a turbo charger that is half the life of the normal turbo charger. So it is a 8000 turbo charger on those sets and it is only half the life so it only runs for 4000 hours and one of them came so that took out another 9.3 megawatts. So a total of 22 around 22 and a half megawatts were out of the system. So that is why you had some parts were getting outages and so.”

The GPL Inc. in 2023 recorded a total of 96 countrywide power outages, signaling an increase from the previous year. This revelation came during a hearing of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) last week when the power company came up for review of its 2023 Operating Standards and Performance Targets (OSPT). In 2022, there was a 10% reduction recorded in the outages frequency. GPL’s Divisional Director for Loss Reduction, Parsram Persaud explained that the interruptions were due to a number of reasons ranging from planned maintenance to emergencies. Persaud disclosed that the prolonged dry season contributed significantly to the demand for energy in November and December 2023, hence, demand outstripped supply in several instances.

He said the company was able to grow its generation capacity by 14.5 percent in 2023 but the peak demand for power increased by 21.4 percent. As such, Persaud said that the agency’s Smart Grid pilot project at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara (ECD) was yielding results that may see an increase in power for households and commercial entities.

blackouts, GPL, Indar, megawatts, outages

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