GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana's government and opposition have differed on the reasons behind the problems confronting the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) that last Friday blamed “technical issues” with three of its larger engines for the recent service interruptions.
President Dr. irfaan Ali meeting with GPL board and management officials on Tuesday (DPI Photo)In a statement, the GPL had said that on January 4, the 6.9 megawatt (MW) engine at the Kingston 2 Power Plant experienced “ a technical issue related to a crankshaft” and that on March 11, another plant experienced a technical issue related to the crankshaft and engine components.
It said that on March 15, a third plant “suffered a turbo charge failure” which was resolved seven days later.
“These incidents resulted in a central loss of 12.4 MWs of generation from the Demerara Berbice interconnected system (DBIS). Technical support for the repair of the two engines at the Kingston Power Plants is ongoing and is anticipated to be operational in the month of May 2024,” the GPL said
But following a meeting with the GPL board of directors and management as well as the Power Producers and Distributors Incorporated (PPDI) on Tuesday, a government statement quoted President Dr. Irfaan Ali as having “expressed his dissatisfaction with the entity’s performance while acknowledging the myriad of problems inherited as a result of a lack of maintenance and investments during the period 2015 to 2020”.
The statement said that the “exponential growth in demand, aged assets, and lack of redundancy in transmission were also discussed.
“It’s important to note that the Government has already engaged UK Export Finance (UKEF) to explore financing options for the transmission. Additionally, the President asked the utility to consider alternative options to provide bridging energy to meet the demand while waiting for the completion of the gas-fired power plant. The utility expects a further growth in demand this year of around 30MW,” the statement said.
Public Works Minister Deodat Indar has meanwhile, confirmed that only nine of the 17 reconditioned containerised electricity generation sets that were bought for US$27 million were working.
He said last weekend, GPL had engaged in strenuous efforts to connect more units to the grid by weekend.
“By Saturday, we are told by GPL, an additional six engines will be on the grid and the following week the other two will be on the grid to complete the entire 17 so that you can get supply out of that 28.9 megawatts,” Indar told reporters.
The generation sets had been purchased last December from APAN Energy to ease blackouts over the Christmas season but Indar said there were shortfalls.
“They had some issues with the wiring,” he said, adding when that the engines arrived in Guyana, a number of the fuel tanks were left in Panama and remained undelivered up to the end of February, 2024.
He said APAN Energy had been given two more months to complete the project or the company could be penalised by liquidated damages by GPL.
However, former public infrastructure minister, David Patterson, in a statement on Tuesday night dismissed the reasons being out forward by the government for the electricity woes in the country.
“Nothing can be further from the truth, so as I have done on numerous occasions, permit me the opportunity to restate the facts once again, Patterson said in his statement to the media.
He recalled that when the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) lost the 2015 elections, the new GPL board of directors launched an international recruitment exercise, spearheaded by the internationally renowned firm of Price Waterhouse Coopers Advisory Services Ltd.
He said following extensive interviews, a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) national with extensive experience in the power utility sector was employed as the chief executive officer.
Patterson said that the new GPL head commenced reorganizing and revitalizing the then ailing company.
“During the next four years, GPL under the coalition administration procured 63MW of brand-new generating sets, increasing the generating capacity of the company by 50 per cent, a never-before-seen expansion in generating capacity in such a short period – with no oil revenue.”
But he said on its return to office in 2020, the PPP/C government dismissed the GPL’s chief executive officer “ with immediate effect, and returned the previous “below expectations” chief executive officer”.
Patterson said that over the past four years, GPL has procured 17 third hand containerized sets of unknown quality and procurement methodology.
“Five months after this purchase, only four sets are operational, it is understood the remaining sets have several defects, which has rendered them ineffective – a prime example of poor technical management.”
He said also that the previous government had gained access to a US$900 million line of credit from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).
“ The first request to utilize these funds was a loan of US$110 million for GPL to construct new substations, a new additional transmission and distribution network, as well as upgrading the existing power infrastructure.
“As expected, on assuming office, the PPP canceled the loan application without reason. Without a doubt, if this application was allowed to progress to implementation, several of the challenges now facing GPL would have been eliminated,” Patterson said.
He said that the status of Guyana’s power sector remains a matter of national concern, and that while “I would readily admit that by June 2020, there were several outstanding challenges still to be resolved, however the company was heading in the right direction with a very limited budge”
He said the government instead of seeking to address these challenges, has “sought to place all their eggs in a single basket, the elusive Wales Gas to Shore project, which on its current trajectory is likely to become another project falling significantly short of promises and expectations.
“No amount of plasters, fluff, bluff, fancy speeches and high-priced PR, will move GPL forward,” Patterson said, adding “it is clear that the Government is sailing up a creek without a paddle”.
Thousands of consumers on the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) suffered repeated and prolonged blackouts during the long Easter weekend as a result of two explosions at a Kingston generating facility and the shut down of a transformer due to a fault at the Garden-of-Eden substation.
