GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Nov 10, CMC – Guyanese will benefit from additional power supply to the national grid with the addition of another power ship, possibly by Christmas.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said the ship is expected to bring some 60 megawatts (MW) of new power to the country’s main interconnected system through Everton, East Bank Berbice.
He said the government has received a bid from the same Turkish company that supplied the power ship currently operating in Guyana.
“Their material is often not here in the country, so they are using some spare material now. We are borrowing now because to procure a lot of the material, the transformers, the poles – these are concrete poles and such – it takes time. We are hoping that in six weeks, or maybe a month, the power ship could be here and turned on before Christmas,” he said.
In addition to the 60 MW that this new power ship is expected to bring, it is possible that another 75 MW will be added with the addition of five kilometres of transmission mains.
“So, that will be for two years too . . . and will take us just beyond the period when the new plant comes into stream,” he said.
Once this happens, Jagdeo explained, the older plants currently in operation can be dismantled for maintenance and fortification.
“The contract has been awarded to do the transmission mains, and a contract would have gone to Cabinet to move forward with the negotiations to complete the deal with the power ship,” the vice president said.
Earlier this year, the government, through Guyana Power and Light (GPL), signed a multi-million-dollar contract with Urbacon Concessions Investments, W.L.L (UCI), a subsidiary of UCC Holdings in Qatar, in collaboration with Karpower ship International to rent the ship for two years.
CMC/ed/2024