Wales gas-fired power plant, natural gas liquids plant to be built together to save cost

The Ministry of Natural Resources has decided that the gas-fired power plant and the natural gas liquids plant intended for the Wales Development Zone (WDZ) will be built together.

“The rationale for combination of the Power Plant and NGL facilities, is guided by findings by [ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited] EEPGL, that there will be substantial savings from combining these two facilities,” the Ministry said in a notice.

It noted that, pursuant to a previous invitation for expressions of interest, the Government had received EOIs in September 2021 that included the Power Plant, and that EEPGL had separately pre-qualified firms for the NGL plant.

The combination of the plants, the Ministry said, necessitates that all parties submit, or re-submit information on their interest in engineering, procuring and constructing the project, with construction expected to start in Q3 of 2022 and completion by Q4 of 2024.

One hundred and fifty acres of land has been allocated for the project at Hermitage (part of WDZ).

The Gas-to-Energy project will deliver 250 megawatts (MW) of low-emission power to the grid, using natural gas piped from the Liza field offshore Guyana.

In addition to the Wales gas-fired power plant, the government has started putting infrastructure in place to fire up more plants with natural gas.

The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) plans to convert 106 MW of existing heavy fuel oil (HFO) capacity to dual fuel engines by 2026.

This adds to a new reciprocating 46 MW dual fuel (HFO/NG) engines which were added to the grid in 2021, located at Garden of Eden on the East Bank of Demerara. 

The government intends to deliver 500 MW of new power to Guyana by 2025, utilising natural gas and renewable sources of wind, solar and hydro power.

These projects, coming under the expanded Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030, have transformative potential for Guyana.