Wales gas-to-energy plant for testing in another three months

Last Updated on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, 17:25 by Written By Denis Chabrol

The Wales gas-to-energy power plant would undergo testing in early December, as efforts continue apace to supply some of the 300 megawatts of power to the national grid, Public Utilities Minister Deodat Indar said Tuesday.

“They are working to get us to first-fire, which is some time around December 4th to have the first-fire meaning that gas will come through and start to fire for testing of the first turbine before they put it online and give it to the government,” he said in a 4 minute, 47 second video on Facebook.

He said government was hoping to get 57 megawatts of electricity into the grid.

So far, the media have been largely excluded from visits to the facility at Wales, West Bank Demerara. Only government officials, members of the private sector organisations and foreign visitors have been taken on guided tours of the the works.

Mr Indar said he accompanied Prime Minister Mark Phillips to assess the project because “the grid needs the power” at a time of the heatwave associated with the prolonged and intense El Nino dry spell. “People are using a lot of electricity in Guyana and we have to meet that demand. The demand is spiking certain times of the day certain times of the month,” he said.

Top Guyana Power and Light (GPL) officials on Monday said that utility had sufficient generating capacity, but higher consumption from air conditioning units and fans at peak periods was straining the transmission system’s feeders.

The US$759 million facility also includes a natural gas liquids plant that would produce cooking gas for the local and Caribbean markets. Government also hopes to encourage investment in fertiliser production for the agriculture sector.