The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) says it is moving forward to finalise the Power Purchase Agreement with MCG Investments Inc. (Giftland Mall) regarding the purchasing of electricity from that private company.
Only recently, Giftland’s Chairman Roy Beepat scolded the Power Company for pussyfooting on the agreement.
“…the Board authorised GPL to move forward efforts to finalize a PPA Agreement with MCG Investments Inc. that met the needs and interests of the Company. The Board also instructed GPL Inc. to ensure all of the legal and regulatory modalities were satisfied,” GPL said in a statement today.
GPL explained that whilst the legal and regulatory modalities are being completed, the Board also authorised the Utility Company to commence inviting Expressions of Interest (EoIs) from other potential power providers with immediately available generation capacity who may be interested in supplying electricity to the national grid.
The Government’s Department of Public Information (DPI) had reported in June of this year that GPL and Giftland had concluded a Power Purchase Agreement for the supply of five megawatts of power and that all that was waiting was the ratification by the new GPL Board.
Since 2016, Giftland Mall had offered to sell Government its excess electricity but this was rejected. At a press conference in June, GPL CEO Albert Gordon had explained that buying power from an independent power producer (IPP) is a complicated issue which includes negotiating pricing and legal matters.
To this end, he noted that GPL had enlisted the help of the Public Infrastructure Ministry to iron out these issues. Besides Giftland, there were also some talks with Banks DIH to purchase power.
