Work is moving apace on the new power plant at Kingston and it is now 70 percent complete according to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Bharrat Dindyal.

The plant is among the major interventions for the electricity sector this year and is expected to achieve commercial operations by the third quarter. It will consist of three of the latest Wartsila engines.

The foundation has already been laid for the installation of the engines. These are expected to arrive in three weeks. About 95 percent of the new plantxs operations will make use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO).

The 60 hertz plant will be interconnected to the 69 Kilovolt (KV) substation at Sophia using transmission lines that will run via the Lamaha railway embankment.

Squatters living along this embankment were recently relocated to pave the way for the installation. However, the clearing process is still ongoing.

With the new system in place, coupled with the use of HFO, the power company is expected to increase its generation capacity by 20 megawatts and at the same time significantly reduce the cost of operations.

xThis would add much needed base load capacity to Demerara, allowing adequate generation capacity to meet peak demandxwith this 30 megawatt boost, in generation capacity, the Demerara Interconnected System will have adequate and reliable generating capacity to meet both peak and reserve requirements,x Dindyal said.

The switch to HFO was seen as a necessary intervention as it is cheaper and will significantly reduce the cost of production. About 60 gallons of diesel is required for the production of 1000 units of electricity, while 55 gallons of heavy fuel oil is needed.

Dindyal said GPL, along with the commissioning of the new plant, is expected to re-commission two, five-megawatt Niigata machines at Garden of Eden. Components for the machines have been shipped to the United Kingdom for repairs. (GINA)