As the Irfaan Ali administration goes full throttle with the proposed Wales gas-to-shore project in Guyana, plans are now under review to determine what type of power plant will be used. United Kingdom Petroleum Expert, Simon Shaw who now serves as government’s consultant revealed this at a recently held press briefing.
He disclosed that the US$900M project will utilise associated natural gas from ExxonMobil’s Liza field with the pipeline passing through Crane and other communities before being landed at Wales on the West Bank of Demerara where the power generation facility will be constructed.
The petroleum expert explained that the idea is to make a simplified gas processing configuration that will significantly reduce capital expenditure.
“The other study that is ongoing is what type of power plant should be used. Should it be a closed cycle gas turbine, or should it be gas engines similar to the ones recently installed at the Garden of Eden,” Shaw told those gathered at the briefing. Garden of Eden is a village on the East Bank of Demerara in Guyana where a power generation facility is located.
The closed-cycle gas turbine uses gas for the working fluid as part of a closed thermodynamic system with heat being supplied by an external source.
Likewise, the design and configuration of the pipeline is also being examined. The expert detailed that the gas would be put into a 12-inch pipe.
As per government’s present deal with ExxonMobil, 50 million cubic (mcf) of gas is set to be transported daily, Shaw noted, while adding that the pipeline will have the potential to carry 120 million cubic feet. That 50 mcf is what is needed to generate 250 megawatts of power.
With this project, government aims for the country to benefit from power generation at a rate of around three US cents per kilowatt-hour. That price is expected to drop even further once the pipeline is repaid in four years’ time and is projected to save US$150 million in heavy fuel oil costs annually.
