GPL turns down Giftland’s power supply offer
GPL’s Chief Executive Officer (ag), Renford Homer and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer – Technical, Elwyn Marshall
GPL’s Chief Executive Officer (ag), Renford Homer and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer – Technical, Elwyn Marshall

-says terms not feasible, uneconomical

THE Guyana Power and Light (GPL) said it had to walk away from a proposal by Giftland Mall to sell it electricity owing to the cost and the time the business entity was prepared to supply power.

This announcement was made by GPL’s Chief Executive Officer (ag), Renford Homer during a news conference on Monday.

Giftland Mall, located at Turkeyen on the East Coast of Demerara, is generating its own electricity. The mall’s power station has the capacity to satisfy its demand of 1.5 megawatts of power per day and an additional 3.2 megawatts of excess power. Homer, during a press conference at GPL’s Kingston Head Office, said the power company was approached by Giftland but the particulars of the proposal fell short in addressing the needs of GPL.

“The time in which the Giftland Mall was desirous of supplying energy to GPL was really not in keeping with the time we would actually benefit from that excess energy,” the CEO (ag) told reporters in response to a question posed.

It was explained that the mall was suggesting to supply Sophia and neighbouring communities with electricity between 10:00h and 13:00 when the demand for electricity is usually between 18:30h and 21:00h.

Homer said to take on board an offer to supply energy when it is really not needed “doesn’t make economic sense to GPL.” The power company’s proposal, according to the CEO (ag) was communicated to Giftland.

Deputy CEO Technical, Elwyn Marshall told reporters that certain technical criteria had to be met before GPL could have taken on such a proposal. “It has to be a coordinated effort. It has to be done in a way that it doesn’t add instability to our fragile grid,” Marshall said.

He added that in addition to the technical aspects, GPL has to purchase the power at an economical rate in an effort to sell back to consumers in the targeted areas. “We had initial discussions with Giftland; they had a certain concept in terms of the price they wanted to sell the product to GPL,” he said, noting however, that it was not in keeping with what GPL had required, emphasising that they are both financial and technical implications.

Meanwhile, GPL is putting systems in place to reduce the likelihood of power outages. According to Marshall, GPL currently has a firm capacity of 104 megawatts of electricity, excluding the generation of power available to the company from the Skeldon Factory. Skeldon has the capacity to generate a minimum of 8 megawatts.

He said when the Garden of Eden Wartsila Plant goes into full operation by Friday, an additional 5.5 megawatts of power will be accumulated.
“This would give us a reserve of close to 10 megawatts which traditionally, we like to operate with a reserve that allows for the failure of our largest unit. Our largest unit right now is 8.7 megawatts, so we will like to have at least 9 to 10 megawatts,” Marshall further explained.

He said the reserve would significantly reduce the risk of widespread power outages for expensive periods during the festive season. It was noted too by the CEO (ag) that in the lead up to festive season, GPL intensifies it maintenance operation. Additionally, in response to the picketing exercise conducted by some of its workers, GPL has asked its contract workers to be on standby in the case of an emergency.

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