GPL energizes new submarine cable to address blackouts
The cable being laid across the Demerara River
The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) has successfully put into operation a new 13.8-KV Submarine Cable across the Demerara River linking the power plants at Vreed-en Hoop on the West Coast Demerara and Kingston in Georgetown. The exercises was conducted on Tuesday last by the company’s in-house Tec-teams.
Most parts of the eastern half of the Demerara-Berbice interconnected system suffered power outages due to a damaged 69-KV cable which saw power generation dropping by as much as 14 megawatts this forcing the company to kick in an emergency plan to reduce the outages.
The emergency plans included the laying of a new 13.8 KV cable which successfully made up for the shortfall in generating capacity in the above mentioned areas.
Preparing the 13.8 KV cable for connection to the Vreed-en-Hoop power plant
In a statement, the company said alluded to support from the Maritime Administration Department, Gaico Construction Services and staff from the power company project management, engineering services, system planning and designs, network operations and system control and engineering departments.
The teams it was communicated, worked through inclement weather to ensure the planting of new pole and the construction of additional overhead line sections which were all completed within record time.
At the moment GPL is said to be in the process of burying the new cable at a significant depth below the river bed to ensure its safeguard from potential damage due to ocean going vessels, further there will now be increased monitoring my the Maritime Administration Department to assist in this process.
Areas which were previously affected by the damage cable are now enjoying five megawatts of power being provided by the new 13.8-KV cable which spans approximately four thousand feet from a location in central Georgetown to Vreed-en-Hoop.
Laying of the cable through a location in Georgetown which spans to Vreed-en-Hoop
The power company has also indicated that this is being backed up by two generating units with an average capacity of 2 megawatts, these two sets were returned from Anna Regina to generation during peak demand.
One of GPL’s second largest units; a 7.8 megawatts is also back in operation according to the power company, this particular unit was out of operation for a period of time due to scheduled maintenance.
Still a work in progress
The Guyana Power and Light in its statement has indicated that with the cable in operation, daily load shedding has been discontinued. However customers on the West Bank and west Coast Demerara may experience periods of interruptions as the Vreed-en-Hoop plant which is now operating in an isolated mode is not as stable as when it was interconnected to the rest of the Demerara-Berbice interconnected system.
Additionally, the inadequate reserve capacity which has been exacerbated by the absence of the 69-KV cable may result in generation shortfall and periodic service interruption in the Eastern Demerara-Berbice interconnected system
Fixing the problem
At the money the Guyana Power and Light is working to have remedial works done to damage 69-KV cable. The company is working closely with the contractor to expeditiously complete the repairs and have the cable back in operation in the shortest possible time as the company seeks to stick to its commitment of improving the reliability of electricity supply to customers while addressing inadequacies in the system, the release concluded.
