By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News |
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) has announced that it will inject an additional 5 megawatts (MW) of generation into the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) starting Wednesday, building on the 230 MW added since 2020.
However, amid chronic outages, grid trips, and severe peak-hour strain, questions remain as to whether a 5 MW injection can stabilize the national electricity network while major baseload relief projects face protracted construction delays.
Baseload Injections and the Delayed Gas-to-Energy Project
Speaking at a technical briefing, GPL Chief Executive Officer Kesh Nandlall outlined emergency measures being pursued to bolster firm generation while addressing the timelines for the overdue Wales Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project:
- Immediate Supply Search: Beyond Wednesday’s 5 MW commissioning, the utility is aggressively evaluating international and local market proposals to source further temporary supplemental generation.
- Wales Gas-to-Energy Delays: The flagship 300 MW gas-fired plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara—initially projected for earlier commissioning and now roughly two years behind its original schedule—is not slated to supply single-turbine power until late 2026.
- Extended Horizon for Full Output: Nandlall confirmed that full commercial baseload output from the Wales facility is not expected until mid-June 2027.
“We are looking at options right now to bring in additional generation,” Nandlall stated. “The first power, based on the information I have, is expected to be available by the end of the year, which is one turbine… We should have full power by mid-June of 2027.”
Network Bottlenecks: Substations and Overloaded Feeders
Addressing structural grid deficiencies, GPL Head of Transmission and Distribution Shaun Hamlet pointed out that power generation is only one facet of the crisis, identifying severe transmission bottlenecks across coastal corridors:
- Substation Program: GPL is constructing eight new electrical substations across Demerara and Berbice while upgrading four existing facilities to improve voltage regulation and inter-feeder redundancy.
- Corridor Congestion: Distribution feeders and line transformers are operating near capacity, and ongoing civil roadworks, construction accidents, and heat-induced line sagging regularly trigger cascading trips.
“The corridors are limited,” Hamlet noted. “What is driving our reliability issues is overload on the network distribution as well as the transformers.”
David Patterson: “Total Incompetence and Mismanagement”
Former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson rejected the utility’s explanations, arguing that a 5 MW increment is insignificant against peak demand spikes and decrying persistent administrative excuses:
- Stalled Mega-Projects: Patterson criticized the government’s dependency on the delayed Wales development, arguing that capital resources have been tied up in delayed megaprojects while basic distribution maintenance languishes.
- Systemic Failure: He called on the administration to return to the technical drawing board, arguing that blaming blackouts on citizens running air conditioners reflects operational neglect.
“They started a Gas-to-Shore project that does not seem that it could ever be completed, and yet in this day and age we are still back to climate change and people using their air conditioners,” Patterson contended. “It is total incompetence and mismanagement.”
