‘Insufficient’ power not an issue now for GPL
–as utility company surpasses peak demand, has reserve power, Jagdeo says

THERE should not be power outages because of insufficient power, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo has said.
Jagdeo, during a press conference on Friday, explained that this should be averted because the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) has surpassed peak demand and even has reserve power.
Despite the country facing electricity woes because of a “short-sighted” approach by the previous APNU+AFC administration, according to the PPP General Secretary, the PPP/C government has worked to fix this issue.
The government, he said, has properly handled the power sector, even in the face of inheriting many challenges.
Giving greater insight into how the previous coalition government had blocked attempts to secure stable, cheaper power, Jagdeo said: “They never made an investment in a baseload capacity that would have replaced Amaila (Amaila Falls hydropower station) …So when we resumed office, [we were left]

with practically the same old equipment that we left office with.”
He said that even with an expanding economy, little investment was being made in that area by the previous administration.
However, the PPP/C government has made significant investments since it assumed office in 2020.
Since being elected to office in 2020, the PPP/C government has implemented several initiatives, including the installation of 10 megawatts of emergency power, the operationalisation of 46.5 megawatts at the Garden of Eden plant in 2022, and the procurement of an additional 28.9 megawatts of power from Honduras.

Now, according to the PPP/C General Secretary, the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) run by GPL now boasts 267 megawatts (MW) of power with the injection of the two power ships, solar-power projects and other installed capacity.
Further, he said that peak demand is just about 200MW and so, GPL now has about 67MW of reserve power. This is the first in a long time, he explained.
“So now GPL has reserves, they’re using part of it as spinning reserves and this would allow them to take out some of the other sets that have had delayed maintenance and do that maintenance now without affecting the availability of power in the system,” Jagdeo said.
The PPP/C General Secretary, who also serves as Guyana’s Vice President, said that improved performance is expected from GPL since there is no longer any reason to pin failures on inadequate power.
The Vice President said: “We’re expecting, as the President said, [a] better level of performance now that they have the adequate amount of power to meet the demand. In fact, they have way beyond what the peak demand is… We don’t expect to have blackouts the way we had, because of shortage of power or the availability of power.”