GPL takes new Wartsila engines on 50-mile journey to a one-mile destination
September 28, 2013, By KNews, Filed Under News, Source
Three Wartsila engines that Government hopes will meet growing electricity demands in Demerara and Berbice, until hydro power comes, have arrived in the country but it will be a huge challenge to move them to the West Demerara site.
Yesterday, at the John Fernandes Limited wharf in Georgetown, heavy duty cranes of the Dutch-registered ship, Merwedegracht, lifted the engines, valued at US$26M, to a barge, where they were secured.
GPL’s CEO, Bharat Dindyal
Each engine weighs around 130 tonnes, making it impossible to be hauled across the aging Demerara Harbour Bridge.
Although the new power plant that is currently under construction at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Bank Demerara, is located one mile from John Fernandes wharf, across the Demerara River, the engines have to travel almost a day to Archies, an area about two miles of Parika. That is because there is no wharf at Vreed-en-Hoop and nowhere else on the West Coast Demerara area in which the barge can dock and the engines off-loaded.
The barge with the engines will be taken by sea to Archies, near Parika, then loaded onto trucks and driven back to Vreed en Hoop, a total distance of about 50 miles.
At Archies, a special access road has been repaired specifically to accommodate the transportation of the engines to Vreed-en-Hoop along the public road.
According to Bharat Dindyal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL), the moving of the engines to Vreed-en-Hoop had to be planned to the finest details.
A special truck will be moving the engine, one at a time to the new power station at Vreed-en-Hoop.
However, GPL is not taking any chances. It will have teams of its workers, and personnel from the Ministry of Public Works and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) to follow the truck and each of the engines from Archies to Vreed-en-Hoop.
With many road bridges along the way and each built to accommodate only 50 tonnes, far less than the 130 tonnes Wartsila engines, special equipment (called flyover bridge) to lay over them will also be used to prevent any mishaps and damage.
The 8.6 megawatts engines, which will make it 17 that Wartsila will have operating for GPL countrywide, are by far the biggest of the lot.
On its arrival at the site at Vreed-en-Hoop, special foundation with hundreds of piles, have been built and the engines will be transferred to these.
Also arriving yesterday were five large tanks that will hold oil, water and other materials critical to the running of the new power plant. At the John Fernandes wharf yesterday was Prime Minister Sam Hinds, who has responsibilities for energy.
According to Dindyal, foundation works are halfway through at the new power plant with over 800 piles to be driven. Almost 300 more still have to be driven.
The three Wartsila engine, valued US$26M, on board a barge that will take it today to Parika.
In addition to two storage tanks, the new power station will have its own wharf to accommodate a fuel vessel. BK International has been awarded a $242M contract for this.
The construction site, being built on a sea dam, has been the most difficult of all sites for GPL, the CEO claimed. In addition to heavy foundation, piles as long as 72 in some instances have to be used, and these were imported.
When commissioned in April next year, the 26 megawatts engines are expected to boost GPL’s firm capacity to 106 megawatts. The extra power, which GPL is glad for, will also benefit Berbice when a power cable across the Berbice River is hooked sometime in the near future.
Guyana is struggling to meet increasing demand for power as new housing schemes and business continue to grow.
Prime Minister Hinds was hopeful that the new engines may be the last of investments of its kind until the arrival of hydro power.
