No power outages anticipated due to Adequate power supply – Dr Jagdeo

With over 200 megawatts of generation capacity, the Guyana Power and Light Inc. has ample power to meet national grid demands, preventing outages due to insufficient supply.  

This is according to the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, who was at the time speaking at a press engagement at Freedom House on Friday.

Dr Jagdeo pointed out that significant investments have been made in bolstering capacity at GPL, and these investments are expected to yield returns in terms of improved services.

“We’re expecting… better levels of performance now that they have the adequate amount of power to meet the demand. We don’t expect to have blackouts the way we had because of a shortage of power or the availability of power,” he said.  

The GS acknowledged that there may be blackouts associated with faults in the transmission system but ultimately, these outages should not originate from lack of power.

“We’re adding about 100 megawatts of installed capacity through fossil fuel and solar, and now we have purchased and have installed nearly another 100 megawatts through the power ships, so about 200 megawatts of capacity we are adding to the system,” he said.

The power ship docked at Everton, East Bank Berbice in Region Six, is supplying 36 MW of electricity to the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System.

A second power ship has also been installed, adding another 75 MW to the national grid.

“Now we have 267 megawatts of power installed, and peak demand is now about 200 megawatts. So, we have about 67 megawatts of reserve, for the first time after a long time,” Dr Jagdeo noted.

The GS explained that GPL is using part of this extra supply as “spinning reserves”, enabling them to perform much-needed maintenance works on the transmission mains without affecting the availability of power.

Additionally, work is underway to create a heavy-duty transmission line that will be connected to a centralised control centre.

Dr Jagdeo underscored that these measures are temporary salves until the landmark gas to energy project comes on stream. The multi-billion-dollar project, which is being constructed at Wales in Region Three, will provide clean and reliable power to the national grid, slashing electricity costs by 50 per cent.

Last week, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali asserted that the management of GPL will be held accountable if the country’s power supply system is not improved by 2025.