Despite a recent wave of power outages, Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) Chief Executive Officer Kesh Nandlall has assured consumers that the utility is preparing for the Christmas season and expects electricity to be available on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Nandlall gave the assurance during an appearance on the Starting Point podcast, where he was questioned about the company’s preparations amid persistent outages, rising electricity demand and the need for scheduled maintenance on generating units.
“We are doing our best, and we are seeking additional generation to support us for Christmas,” the GPL CEO said.
He explained that the utility is also making adjustments to its network, including shifting loads between feeders when one becomes more heavily burdened than another.
“We can share loads among different feeders if one is overloaded versus the other. We have been doing that as we see the changes in the demand on each feeder,” Nandlall said.
Asked directly whether the lights would be on for Christmas, Nandlall responded: “Yes, the lights will be on.” When pressed about Boxing Day, he added: “And Boxing Day.”
Nandlall said Christmas is not normally GPL’s peak-demand period, despite the increase in decorative lighting during the holiday season.
According to him, extreme heat has a greater impact on electricity consumption than Christmas lights, particularly as households and businesses increase their use of cooling equipment.
“Christmas is not really our peak, even though people put on a lot of lights and so on. But the heat has a bigger impact on the demand of electricity than these lights,” he said.
The assurance comes against the backdrop of heightened pressure on the national grid.
Nandlall said peak demand has risen from about 125 megawatts in 2020 to approximately 255 MW today, while GPL’s customer base has grown from roughly 201,000 to 250,000 over the same period.
He said that rapid growth has outpaced upgrades to parts of the distribution network, resulting in overloaded transformers and other constraints.
“The growth in the demand is taxing the network, the distribution network, and we are seeing overloaded networks. We are seeing transformers overload,” he said.
GPL is also seeking additional generating capacity in the short term.
Nandlall said the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System has about 270 MW of available capacity against peak demand of roughly 255 MW, leaving limited reserve power when generators are taken offline.
“So we are currently looking at additional generation. Immediate,” he said, noting that the company is examining both smaller units and a larger solution.
The need for added capacity is also being driven by GPL’s maintenance schedule.
Nandlall said some engines must periodically be removed from service for overhauls after reaching around 12,000 operating hours, with units potentially coming offline intermittently over the next year.
“That is exactly the reason why… we have to seek additional interim generating capacity until we have the gas-to-energy unit,” he said.
The first phase of the Gas-to-Energy project is expected to eventually provide 300 MW, while GPL is simultaneously undertaking major transmission and distribution upgrades.
Nandlall said the company is investing about US$800 million in infrastructure and expects the additional generation and network works to significantly ease the current level of power disruptions over time.
