Cabinet grants no objection for construction of natural gas & power plants

President Irfaan Ali

President Irfaan Ali on Thursday revealed that Cabinet granted its “no-objection” to engage Lindsayca Inc., a joint venture with CH4 Guyana Inc, to build the 300 megawatts Combined Cycle Power Plant and Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) Plant at Wales, West Coast Demerara (WCD).

During a Facebook live, the President explained that the project would be executed under an Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) Contract.

Earlier this year, nine firms were publicly pre-qualified to bid on the EPC contract. A Request for Proposals (RFP) were issued to these pre-qualified bidders, and five bids were received on the closing date of September 13.

These bids were evaluated for technical compliance and ranking by Stantec and Worley, two global engineering firms with expertise in oil and gas.

“Contract negotiations will now start with the expectation that a contract will be executed before the end of November. Key considerations in the evaluation took account of the expected date of delivery of the 300 MW power plant by December 2024,” the Head of State said.

He added, “Both top-ranked companies confirmed this deadline. The EPC Contract will be supervised by a global supervision firm. The selected supervision firm is Engineers India Limited.”

President Ali noted that the Government of Guyana would own the 300 MW power plant and NGL plant.

Prior to the conclusion of the construction, an international firm will be competitively selected to operate the project to international standards and best practices.

Exxon is expected to deliver the completed pipeline to the power plant by the fourth quarter of 2024 to achieve the commissioning and testing of the 300 MW power plant by the end of 2024.

The Gas to Energy Project is expected to deliver power at less than half the current costs. Project generation costs, taking account of payment for the pipeline, operations, and maintenance (O&M), and capital cost recovery, shall total less than five US cents per kilowatt-hour.

“Fellow Guyanese, this is a significant movement forward in Guyana, not only achieving energy security, but us achieving an important benchmark that is a reduction in our energy costs so that our manufacturing and industrial development and expansion can take place and so that the ordinary families and the ordinary people can feel a substantial reduction in the cost of electricity in their pockets and in their household,” President Ali noted.