President urges GPL to explore alternative power supply options amid constant power outages

President Dr. Irfaan Ali engaged the Board of Directors and management of Guyana Power and Light (GPL), Power Producers and Distributors Incorporated (PPDI) and Wartsila [Photo: Office of the President/April 2, 2024]

Amid increasing power outages, President Dr. Irfaan Ali met with the Board of Directors and management of Guyana Power and Light (GPL) on Tuesday and expressed his “dissatisfaction” with the current situation.

The meeting, which was held at State House, Georgetown, was also attended by the Power Producers and Distributors Incorporated (PPDI) and Wartsila – the two companies working with GPL.

During the meeting, the President expressed his dissatisfaction with GPL’s performance while acknowledging the myriad of problems inherited as a result of a lack of maintenance and investments from 2015 to 2020.

The exponential growth in demand, aged assets, and lack of redundancy in transmission were also discussed. The President has scheduled a follow-up meeting later today.

Notably, the government has already engaged UK Export Finance (UKEF) to explore financing options for the transmission.

Additionally, the President asked the utility company to consider alternative options to provide bridging energy to meet the demand while waiting for the completion of the gas-fired power plant. The utility expects further demand growth of around 30MW this year.