AFC hammers Government again on ongoing GPL problems

As the power supply problems being experienced by the Guyana Power and Light company continue, Opposition MP and Former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson has revealed that the former Government had developed a comprehensive strategy to effectively address the electricity supply issues confronting the country. However, he said the plan was scrapped by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration upon its return to power in 2020.

At an AFC press conference on Friday, the Opposition Member of Parliament said that upon assuming office in 2015, the Coalition inherited a dysfunctional power system, in dire need of major capital and technical investments.

In the short term, he said the APNU+AFC Government conducted critical repairs and upgrades to the power generating network at the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), while appointing a new management team.

“Despite the conflicting misinformation being peddled by the PPP, we procured over 60+MW of new generating power, upgraded over 1000km of high and medium voltage lines, installed new transformers and boosted our protection network, these actions resulted in a more reliable electricity supply and a reduction in the frequency of blackouts,” MP Patterson said.

Patterson said the comprehensive strategy included a gas-to-energy project and a number of other renewable projects. However, he said the majority of those plans were either severely mutilated or abandoned by the PPP/C Administration.

“While the Coalition administration considered a Gas to Shore project of 200MW (US$500M), as being the major generating source in the short to medium term, we also understood that until the commissioning of such a plant, additional investments in power generation would have been required during the interim period….Based on GPL expansion plans, 100MW of new power was needed for the period 2020 – 2022, at the end of that period, the proposed Gas to Shore project, as originally designed, would have been commissioned, thus incrementally injecting a further 200MW into the system, sadly all these plans were scraped by the PPP, who has placed all their eggs in a single basket, being the Wales Gas to Shore project, a project which on its current trajectory will not deliver on its project promises,” MP Patterson explained.

It was noted that all of the new generating sets proposed to be procured were designed as modular dual – fueled units, which would have the ability to use both natural gas and fossil fuel.

MP Patterson said the current blackouts are entirely due to the lack of forthsight and planning by the government. He said currently there is a shortfall in generating capacity of approximately 35MW – 40MW with several units down at the Kingston location, while the new plants at Garden of Eden are operating below their listed capacity.

The current Government, which has been in office since 2020, is blaming the APNU+AFC Government for the power problems, saying that not enough was done during that party’s time in office to increase power generation.