Guyana could have saved US$195M from powership deal if generators were purchased - Patterson

Guyana could have saved US$195M from powership deal if generators were purchased – Patterson

May 07, 2026 News

(Kaieteur News) – Guyana could have met its electricity demands and saved US$195M without renting the two Karpowership vessels had the government purchased generators instead, former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson has said.

Patterson on Wednesday during an interview with Kaieteur News referenced comments made by Head of the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) Executive Management Kesh Nandlall on the renewal of the powerships’ contracts in light of the delayed gas-to-energy project.

On March 29, Kaieteur News reported that Guyana is set to extend its contract with Karpowership, the Turkish company which the country is renting two powerships from at a daily charge of approximately US$235,000 given the extended delay of the Wales Gas Project.

Guyana could have saved US$195M from powership deal if generators were purchased - Patterson

Former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson

Nandlall told Kaieteur News that the contract has to be renewed or the country will face more power outages. He disclosed that the contract for the first powership expires in May. “Yes, we are planning to renew. If we don’t, you would get blackout,” he told Kaieteur News noting that the cost being paid by Guyana is likely to remain unchanged.

“We were negotiating that at the moment… but it’s likely to be the same,” he stated.

In response, the former government minister said that the announcement by Nandlall reeks of “incompetence and corruption, both the hallmark of this PPP government.” He reminded that it was only four years after returning to office that the current administration was “forced to enter into this shady agreement because of their complete mismanagement of the power sector”.

Patterson said that the government has placed all its eggs into one basket when it decided to undertake the Wales gas-to-shore project. He reminded that the project was undertaken with no feasibility study and that the contract was awarded to a company that has no track record in undertaking a project with this complexity.

“Since 2024, the 36MW power ship would have costed the Guyanese taxpayers more than G$28B (US$131M) in rental fees, fuel and transportation, the larger 75MW power barge comes with the even heavier costs for two years rental of G$63.6B (US$295M) – all costs which were avoidable. The G$91B would have been more than enough to give every Guyanese an additional $100K cash grant,” Patterson told Kaieteur News.

He continued: “Note that to procure new 120MW dual fueled generators, with 20 lifespans (similar to the 46.5MW generators purchased by APNU+AFC in 2019) would be approximately US$130M – this would have been a more prudent approach, these new generators would have been permanently available to GPL, additionally, as is now appearing more likely, that the Wales Gas to Shore project fails to deliver it projected output power, the input of such a failure would be reduced,” Patterson said.

Further, the former government minister noted President Irfaan Ali’s promise that “heads will roll” at GPL due to the company’s poor performance. Despite the president’s utterances no official of the company has been reprimanded and the entire management team remains firmly in place, while the country continues to be plagued by daily bouts of blackouts.

The Wales Gas Project, which was initially scheduled for completion in 2024, has seen several delays. Through this project, the government has promised that electricity cost would be slashed by 50 per cent for citizens. It is important to note that though the project is expected to begin in the last quarter of 2026, government has said it will not generate electricity at full capacity until mid-2027.

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generators, GPL, Karpowership, powership

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