City consumers will not experience too many instances of load-shedding, black-outs
Two of three heavy duty generators from Finland, valued some US$30M and each boasting a capacity of just over seven mega-watts, were yesterday transported from the John Fernandes Wharf in Georgetown to the GPL project site in Kingston, also in the capital city.

Acting GPL Chief Executive Officer Mr. Bharrat Dindial, speaking to the media at the John Fernandes Wharf, said the generators will significantly shore-up the company’s power capacity.

“The engines will add to GPL capacity…right now our demand is about 69 mega-watts and our capacity is about there; we do not have any reserve capacity,” he pointed out.

One of the generators arrives at the Kingston site

Dindial said in Demerara, about 32 per cent of GPL power comes from diesel, and with the new generators at hand, the dependence on diesel which is far more expensive than heavy fuel oil, will be considerably reduced.

The new plant at the Kingston project site

He noted too that GPL will be in a better position to deal with higher fuel prices, reduce tariff given because of low production cost, and folks in Demerara should not experience too many instances of “load-shedding” and “black-outs”.

“It will reduce our fuel import bill in some respect because they are more efficient than the engines we have now, reduce production cost by using cheaper heavy fuel oil, and will add reliability to our system,” the Acting GPL CEO assured.

He said the equipment will supplement the existing GPL fleet in Demerara which generates 44 mega-watts and the power company intends to add another 10 mega-watts to the Demerara grid.

These two settling tanks, each having the capacity to store some 10,000 gallons of fuel, are components of the generators.

On this score, Dindial said GPL is looking to acquire two more generators to fulfill this objective.

He also said, based on projections, the generators, financed through proceeds from the PetroCaribe initiate, are expected to be commissioned in early September.

Meanwhile, the top GPL official pointed out that the movement of the engines, weighing 120 tonnes each, along with their accessories, to the Kingston site, should be completed by Sunday.

The transfer of the equipment is being undertaken by Guatemalan company Daco Heavy Lift. Daco had to construct several makeshift bridges to stand up to the weight of the generators which is too much for the deteriorating structures they have to traverse to reach Kingston.

Dindial said that the Guyana Telephone &Telegraph (GT&T) and the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) had to be consulted to map a plan to transport the generators which would come into contact with vital equipment managed by the two entities.

He reported that work on the Kingston site is moving according to schedule and the media will soon be invited on an inspection tour of the facility.

Dindial also took the opportunity to state that GPL has been advising the consuming public to observe wise energy conservation practices.

He said GPL will soon release some 165,000 energy saving bulbs on the market and the pre-paid metre programme will also soon come on stream.