Guyana Is Three Months From First Fire on Its Gas-to-Energy Plant, and Siemens Will Run It
GUYANA · ENERGY
Key Facts
- —The meeting Prime Minister Mark Phillips met a Siemens Energy team on Friday about operational readiness.
- —The plant A 300-megawatt combined-cycle power station at Wales, on the west bank of the Demerara.
- —The contract Siemens Energy is the selected operations and maintenance contractor for the plant and auxiliary facilities.
- —The terms A five-year operating period with a renewal option, plus a twenty-year turbine maintenance programme.
- —The date About 57 megawatts from the first turbine is targeted by end-2026, with first fire expected around 4 December.
- —The catch No value has been disclosed for the Siemens contract. The project as a whole is put at US$759 million.
Guyana has been producing oil since 2019 and burning imported fuel to make electricity ever since. The plant at Wales is meant to end that contradiction.
Guyana expects to fire the first turbine of its gas-to-energy plant in about three months. The company that will operate it met the prime minister on Friday.
Prime Minister Mark Phillips received a Siemens Energy team at his office. The subject was operational readiness rather than a new agreement.
Winston Brassington, who heads the gas-to-energy task force, attended along with Bobby Gossai Jr. The Department of Public Information reported the meeting.
What Is Being Built
The plant sits at Wales, on the west bank of the Demerara river. It is a combined-cycle station rated at 300 megawatts under the project’s first phase.
Combined cycle means two stages. Gas turbines generate power and their exhaust heat raises steam for a further turbine, which lifts efficiency substantially.
The configuration is four gas turbines feeding one steam turbine. A 30-megawatt battery storage system with one hour of duration is included.
Power leaves on a 230-kilovolt transmission line rated at about 300 megawatts per circuit. Those details come from the utility’s system planning manager, Dhanraj Bachai.
Demerara Waves puts the project cost at US$759 million. That figure covers the wider project rather than the plant alone.
What Siemens Has Been Selected For
Siemens Energy is the selected operations and maintenance contractor. The scope covers the power plant, the balance of plant and auxiliary facilities.
The operating period runs five years with a renewal option. A separate long-term maintenance programme for the turbines runs twenty years.
No contract value has been disclosed. Neither the government release nor any Guyanese outlet carried a figure.
Friday’s meeting covered management timelines, staffing, training, logistics and technical prerequisites. Those are commissioning questions rather than construction ones.
The Timetable
About 57 megawatts from the first gas turbine is targeted by the end of 2026. That is a partial start rather than full output.
The public utilities and aviation minister, Deodat Indar, has said testing begins in early December. First fire is expected around 4 December.
First fire is the moment a turbine burns fuel for the first time. It is followed by weeks of testing before power reaches customers reliably.
Reaching the full 300 megawatts takes longer. Combined-cycle plants are commissioned in stages, with the steam side coming last.
Why Gas-to-Energy Exists at All
Guyana has been producing oil offshore since 2019. Production has risen faster than almost any new province in modern history.
Its electricity has continued to come from imported heavy fuel oil. A country exporting crude was importing refined product to keep the lights on.
That is not unusual and it is expensive. Guyanese electricity has been among the costliest in the hemisphere, which constrains any manufacturing ambition.
The gas-to-energy scheme brings associated gas ashore by pipeline from the offshore fields. Associated gas is produced alongside oil and would otherwise be reinjected or flared.
Using it domestically converts a by-product into power. The government’s stated aim is to cut electricity costs by around half.
What Gas-to-Energy Changes Downstream
The project includes a natural gas liquids plant alongside the power station. That would produce cooking gas and other liquids for the domestic market.
Guyana currently imports those too. Substituting them is a second source of savings beyond electricity.
Cheaper power is also the precondition for almost every industrial plan the government has announced. Nothing energy-intensive is viable at current tariffs.
Whether the savings reach households depends on tariff policy rather than on engineering. That decision has not been made publicly.
The Risks
Large power projects in small states carry concentration risk. A 300-megawatt plant in a grid this size is not one asset among many; it is the grid.
That is why the operations contract matters as much as the construction. An operator that cannot keep the plant running leaves the country worse off than before.
The twenty-year turbine maintenance programme reflects that. It ties the manufacturer to the equipment for the plant’s working life.
Costs have also risen through the project. Guyana’s opposition has questioned both the price and the procurement, as oppositions do.
What is not in dispute is the timeline pressure. A December first fire means commissioning through the wet season.
Slippage in gas-to-energy projects is the norm rather than the exception. Guyana has already moved this date more than once.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the gas-to-energy project?
A Guyanese scheme to pipe associated gas from offshore oil fields ashore and burn it for electricity at Wales, on the west bank of the Demerara.
How big is the plant?
300 megawatts under phase one, in a combined-cycle configuration of four gas turbines feeding one steam turbine, with 30 megawatts of battery storage.
What is Siemens Energy’s role?
It is the selected operations and maintenance contractor, with a five-year operating period plus a renewal option and a twenty-year turbine maintenance programme.
When does it start?
About 57 megawatts is targeted by the end of 2026, with first fire expected around 4 December and testing from early December.
Sources: Department of Public Information Guyana, Guyana Chronicle, Demerara Waves.
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