The Gas to Energy project in Guyana will feature a state-of-the-art control center in Eccles, East Bank Demerara, to improve nationwide power reliability. This center will employ real-time monitoring to identify and address power outages promptly.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo outlined the government’s plan to upgrade transmission, distribution, and generation capacity.
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“We are upgrading the whole system, and these would be smart grids. On the line itself, you have a fiber-optic cable that will be connected to the control center. So, you won’t need to get a report when a blackout takes place anywhere else. [In] real-time, you can know from the control center at Eccles…wherever in the country…or on the inter-connected grid if you have a power outage, you can dispatch people immediately,” he said.
The center will also enable remote disconnections.
Development in the country is causing demand to increase at unprecedented levels. Due to the shortfall in supply, Guyana has been experiencing power instability.
To substantially increase Guyana’s generating capacity in the long term, Guyana and an ExxonMobil-led consortium are spearheading the Gas-to-energy project, which will allow for the use of offshore natural gas to generate up to 300 MW of electricity. That project is expected to have an initial start-up in 2025, with full operations by the end of the year. The project comprises five components: laying a pipeline to bring gas ashore, constructing a power plant and Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) facility, installing transmission lines, building the control center, and upgrading the distribution system.
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“The transmission alone from the power plant will take power back to Vreed-en-Hoop to be distributed in Region Three and to bring the power across the river to the control center here at Eccles, where it will be dispatched to the rest of the country. That is one element of this project, and all five are being built simultaneously,” Jagdeo explained.
Last year, the government issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the construction of a national control center. This center will support the integration and dispatch of the new 300 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) Power Plant and allow the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) to manage the new and upgraded power system.
