On July 3rd, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) signed what it described as a “strategic” Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Global South Utilities Power Enterprises Investment LLC (GSU) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
According to GPL, the MoU established a framework for cooperation in three priority areas: power generation, renewable energy, and smart electricity infrastructure.
The partnership was described as aligning with GPL’s Development Plan, which aims to modernise Guyana’s electricity network, improve service reliability and resilience, increase generation capacity, and integrate innovative technologies to meet the country’s rapidly growing energy demand.
A press release from GPL said that under the MoU, GPL and GSU will collaborate on identifying, evaluating and developing projects within the power and energy sector. The agreement also provides for joint feasibility studies and the exploration of financing, technical cooperation and implementation strategies for future projects, with individual initiatives to be governed by separate definitive agreements.
GSU, it was said in the press release, brings extensive international experience in the development, financing and operation of power and energy infrastructure projects, particularly in emerging markets.
The partnership is expected to play a key role in advancing renewable energy integration, strengthening generation capacity and introducing smart electricity infrastructure that enhances operational efficiency, improves system reliability and better serves customers across Guyana.
Awash with money which is being spent liberally, Guyana is attracting all types of interest and Middle Eastern countries like the UAE and Qatar have clearly opened up channels to enable their companies to have access to this largesse. Before this MoU is transformed into contracts the government must make a clear statement on whether companies like GSU will tender for specific projects and that the Procurement Act will be followed rigidly.
Moreover, in the wake of the controversial US$15.6m deal with a Dominican Republic company, InterEnergy Group, the public needs to be told whether there is congruity in the tasks assigned to InterEnergy and the needs of GPL and what may emerge from this MoU with GSU. It must be pointed out again that InterEnergy Group secured an arrangement that was outside of the procurement law of this country and appeared to have its genesis in a visit by President Ali to the Dominican Republic where he was reported to be impressed with the work of InterEnergy.
What exactly has InterEnergy been able to accomplish here since it signed its deal with GPL on October 8 last year? The two-year contract followed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2024, which laid the groundwork for technical collaboration, project management, and capacity building.
Under the agreement, InterEnergy Holdings will: a) provide project management and oversight for major infrastructure projects, ensuring technical compliance, timely execution and integration of smart technologies; b) deliver technical advisory services in operation and maintenance of generating assets, conducting audits, and recommending improvements for reliability, efficiency and cost-effectiveness; c) lead smart grid integration, including technical gap analysis, developing cost-effective expansion plans and designing the integration roadmap for full-scale smart grid deployment; and d) support capacity building and reporting, delivering regular progress reports, technical documentation, access to specialised experts and supporting GPL’s operational and strategic decision making.
This is quite a lot of verbiage and will be ranged against the country’s experience since October last year. InterEnergy appears to have taken significant responsibility for day to day management of GPL yet there doesn’t appear to be marked improvement in performance by the power company.
The system appears as brittle as it has been even if improvement works are ongoing. Outages are continuing to occur in all parts of the system. Faults in one part of the network can bring down the entire Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System. Line and commercial losses persist and there are continuing fluctuations in voltage to householders.
Importantly there is no information from GPL/InterEnergy on the maintenance of generators and the level of operability, the quality of electricity supply and affordability of the two power ships being provided by a Qatari company and preparations for full integration with the gas-to-energy project which is to supply 300 megawatts of power.
The government operates as if accountability to the public is something that is alien to a democracy and that culture feeds into public corporations like GPL. No deal is signed in the presence of the media – at least the independent part of it – and there is no feedback at all on performance.
InterEnergy is beginning to approach its one-year anniversary and questions will naturally be asked about whether it is achieving its objectives and is cost efficient. This is another area that is ripe for examination by the Economic Services Committee of Parliament and one hopes that there are answers before the country is taken into expensive arrangements with other companies and further miniaturising of the role of GPL in the management of the power sector.
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