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Third power ship expected to arrive in December
….as power shortage scares GPL – sources
(Kaieteur News) – Lindsayca Guyana Inc, the contractor tasked with constructing the Wales Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project has reportedly informed the Government of Guyana GoG) of its inability to deliver any electricity to the national grid for Christmas, forcing policy makers to turn to its Turkish partner for a third power ship.
Sources close to the discussions told this newspaper on Saturday that the GoG has renegotiated the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Turkish company, seeking a larger vessel to generate more electricity.
The larger vessel, according to information reaching this publication, is expected to replace the two vessels already rented by the GoG.
According to a source, “Behind the scenes, Lindsayca has reportedly run into severe financial shortfalls and admitted to the administration that they will not be able to deliver power by the end of the year.”
The largest powership currently supplying Guyana’s national grid provides 60MW of power.
To make matters worse, the contractor has extended its hand for an additional US$120 million to US$170 million to complete the project—a massive cost overrun as U.S. Ambassador Nicole Theriot publicly defends the contractor.
With the state-owned Guyana Power and Light (GPL) grid continuing to fail, the government is scrambling to prevent a catastrophic wave of holiday blackouts.
“To plug the gap, the administration has quietly moved to renegotiate and expand its emergency arrangement with Karpowership. While officials will undoubtedly spin this renegotiation as a victory—securing a lower overall rate per megawatt—the fine print reveals a grim truth: the state is bringing in a third powership on a multi-year contract. As recent analysis of Guyana’s costly reliance on Turkish powerships demonstrates, GPL’s baseline generation and grid will continue to fail structurally until this new vessel drops anchor,” the government source noted.
The multi-year powership commitment exposes the government’s total lack of faith in the immediate delivery of the GtE project. The contractor, according to government promised to deliver 57-megawatts (MW) of electricity to the grid by December with the full 300-MW expected by mid-2027.
The nation currently rents two vessels from Karpowership – a 36-megawatt (MW) facility docked in the Berbice River and a 60MW vessel stationed in the Demerara River.
According to sources, the third power ship should arrive in December and will require more Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), causing Guyana to dig deeper into its oily-pockets for even more resources to avoid a dark Christmas.
Kaieteur News understands that officials were hustling to provide a payment to the Turkish company. “They should have already made a payment but they were scrambling for funds as this was not budgeted for.”
During a press conference, President Irfaan Ali revealed that there is currently no spinning reserve left on the grid, while a number of generators have exceeded their maintenance schedules or are approaching their maintenance timelines.
Notably, the Head-of-State did not rule out the possibility of a third powership when questioned specifically on the matter.
He said, “Whatever the situation demands now we have to have a holistic approach to this.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, Deodat Indar, is yet to respond to a request for comment on the situation.
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POWERSHIP NUMBER 3, is on its way to Guyana.
Whoever said, Guyana cannot afford 3 power-ships is out of their minds.
With de oil money, they can buy anything, no questions asked, so long as
they need what they are in short supply of.
By the time the Wales GTE project is complete and fully operational, Guyana
will need MORE POWER. They better start building or purchasing a few
POWER-SHIPS of their own for the future.