Gov’t saved US$2.1M purchasing electricity from PPDI in 2017

DPI, Guyana, Friday, December 29, 2017

The State-owned Power Producer and Distribution Incorporated (PPDI) – the company that replaced Wartsila – is working in collaboration with the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) to deliver reliable electricity.

PPDI’s Chief Executive Officer, Arron Fraser said that the company has generated approximately 596,000 megawatts of electricity for this year, while GPL has been responsible for its distribution. This announcement was made at the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s year-end press conference on December 28.

Since the company has been in operation for the past 11 months they have been operating and maintaining four (4) power plants; Garden of Eden, Kingston, New Kingston (- Extension) and Vreed-en-Hoop.

According to Fraser, the PPDI charges GPL a fixed rate of US$16.87 per megawatt of electricity as compared to Wärtsila’s proposed US$20.51 for 2017.  This has saved the utility company approximately US$2.1M

Fraser noted that for the past 11 months, the state-owned company has been making strides in the electricity sector, while at the same time augmenting Guyana’s workforce.

“We have been able to complete all the major engine overhauls; there were 10. Performance guarantees given to the customer will be met, except lube oil consumption at Kingston plant…All new-hires were successfully integrated into our team and are pursuing the internally and context-specific technical qualification programme. Also, approval of the Procurement Manual was granted by the NPTAB and there were zero industrial accidents.”

The CEO outlined some of the plans for 2018 including ten planned major overhauls; rehabilitation of plant auxiliary equipment; cross-plant training with regional utilities utilising clean technology and joint training initiatives with HECI (exchange programmes planned); implementation of ISO 9,000 (for continuous development) and the launch of a website in the first quarter of 2018.

 

By: Zanneel Williams

 

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