Georgetown, Guyana – September 9, 2025 – Guyana’s most ambitious energy project to date has reached a critical turning point. President Irfaan Ali announced on Monday that the foundation for the first gas turbine will be poured Tuesday night (tonight), marking a major milestone in the multi-billion-dollar Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project, a venture expected to slash electricity costs and transform the nation’s industrial future.
The update came during a briefing with Winston Brassington, head of the GTE Task Force, who confirmed that more than 300 workers are currently employed on site, with another 100 set to join in the coming month as work intensifies on additional turbine foundations. Brassington reported that Phase I of the project, which includes a 300-megawatt combined cycle power plant and a natural gas liquids (NGL) facility, is advancing steadily under the management of Lindsayca Guyana Inc.
The GTE project is widely seen as the linchpin of Guyana’s strategy to reduce electricity costs by half and expand the manufacturing base by providing a stable and cheaper energy supply. Guyana has long struggled with some of the highest power costs in the Caribbean, a factor that has stifled competitiveness and discouraged large-scale investment. With ExxonMobil’s offshore oil production already reshaping the economy, the government has argued that the time has come to leverage associated natural gas to benefit households and industries at home.
Brassington also confirmed that Phase II, which envisions an additional 300-megawatt power plant and another NGL facility, has already attracted strong interest. Seven submissions have been received, and the government is preparing to move forward with shortlisting pre-qualified firms before launching engineering, procurement, construction, and financing arrangements. If fully realised, the two phases together could deliver 600 megawatts of new capacity, an unprecedented expansion for Guyana’s grid, which has historically been plagued by blackouts and inadequate generation.
The GTE project is central not only to lowering consumer bills but also to enabling large-scale industrialisation in areas such as agro-processing, mining, and manufacturing. Government officials have repeatedly stressed that affordable and reliable energy is the missing piece in unlocking Guyana’s full economic potential, especially as the country becomes one of the fastest-growing economies in the world on the back of oil revenues.
By tying natural gas into the domestic economy, Ali’s administration hopes to pivot Guyana away from decades of dependence on imported heavy fuel oil, while also providing a cleaner transition path as renewable projects scale up. For many observers, the pouring of the first turbine foundation signals that the project is no longer just a vision, it is beginning to take concrete shape, quite literally, on Guyana’s soil.
