Indar to meet with City Chamber on power outages, energy plans

Deodat Indar, who serves as Minister within the Ministry of Public Works in Guyana, is set to address members of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on the operations of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL). The primary focus of this interaction is to provide insight into the current load-shedding exercises and to unveil the development plans for the energy sector in Guyana.

The Chamber in a recent statement on the ongoing power outages in the country said that the continued loss of productive time, disruption to production and an overall hindrance to the smooth functioning of business will impede both growth and investment prospects. 

In a recent engagement with the media, Indar was joined by key managers from GPL to discuss pressing issues related to the power instability that has affected residents and businesses across the country. The government says it has taken proactive steps to mitigate these issues, including a significant investment of US$27.5 million to increase GPL’s generating capacity by 28.9 megawatts (MW), as announced by Minister Indar.

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The core reason behind the ongoing load-shedding and power outages is the maintenance of a 7.8-MW engine at the Kingston location, which temporarily reduced reliable capacity. Indar assured that the maintenance work is expected to be completed by November 10, bringing relief to consumers.

Furthermore, Indar emphasized that GPL has been facing additional challenges due to damaged power lines and sources, frequently disrupted by incidents along the roadways. The utility company is anticipating an average peak demand of 236 MW by 2024 and is actively evaluating unsolicited offers to meet this growing demand.

This meeting with members of the GCCI, scheduled for Monday, November 6 at 1:00 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, is a crucial opportunity for the business community to gain insights into the government’s plans for resolving the power issues.

The plan to providing affordable and reliable energy solutions remains a top priority for the government, as Chief Executive Officer (ag) Bharat Harjohn reaffirmed that there will be no increase in bill charges while solutions are implemented.

GPL expects the Gas-to-Energy project to be a major relief when it starts up in 2025, but until then, plans to continue ramping up generating capacity sourced from heavy fuel oil (HFO).