By Javone Vickerie | HGP Nightly News|
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — Driven by a rapidly growing national appetite for electricity and ongoing distribution delays at the flagship Wales Gas-to-Energy project, the Government of Guyana is keeping emergency generation facilities fully active on the table. Minister within the Ministry of Public Works with responsibility for Public Utilities, Deodat Indar, has confirmed that the state is 99% of the way to finalizing a new agreement for a smaller third power plant to provide critical voltage support and additional generation specifically for the Berbice corridor.
The announcement comes as coastal industrialization, commercial real estate booms, and rising domestic appliance ownership continue to compress the available spinning reserves of Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL). With the 300-megawatt natural gas-to-energy transmission lines not expected to supply power to the interconnected grid until late 2026 or mid-2027, the state has been forced to aggressively scale its fleet of chartered floating power plants to maintain immediate baseline stability.
The Evolution of Guyana’s Powership Fleet (2024–2026)
- Vessel 1 (36 MW): Contracted in mid-2024 at a highly concessional rate of 7.2 to 7.6 US cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Stationed at Everton, Berbice, to fill immediate structural shortfalls, but currently the subject of hard contract renewals.
- Vessel 2 (60 MW): Brought in swiftly ahead of the 2024 peak holiday season to handle heavy regional surges. Connected to the system at Meadow Bank, Demerara, at a standard premium rate of 9.5 US cents per kWh.
- Proposed Vessel 3 (Berbice Expansion): A targeted, smaller generation asset currently being bargained to fortify the Berbice network, bridging the structural price gap between the operator’s 9.5-cent demand and the state’s 9.0-cent counter-proposal.
Minister Indar openly addressed the aggressive, high-pressure nature of the ongoing cross-border contract negotiations, strongly rejecting any public commentary suggesting that the administration was backed into an unfavorable commercial corner by international contractors.
“The asset owners made it clear that they would never renew the Berbice vessel at that initial introductory, concessional rate of 7.6 cents,” Minister Indar explained, noting that the asset owners recognize Guyana’s temporary dependency during the transition to natural gas. “They asked for 9.5 cents, which is what we pay for the larger Demerara vessel. We put forward a firm counter-proposal of 9.0 cents, and we are currently walking the tightrope between those two figures. We know we need the generation, but we also let them know that we have other options. We are fighting tooth and nail to defend the interests of the Guyanese consumer.”
The minister also expressed disappointment over a critical internal negotiation brief that was recently leaked to the public, emphasizing that complex international energy dockets should never be bargained out in the open press while back-and-forth counter-offers are active. Because the current vessel is already physically connected to the local distribution infrastructure and a four-kilometer transmission line has been fast-tracked, striking a middle ground remains the most immediate, logistically sound path to prevent rolling coastal blackouts while permanent national infrastructure catches up with demand.
