GPL promises blackout free holiday, 69kV Submarine Cable repaired

A blackout free holiday could be the wish that has been granted. The Guyana Power Company said that there are no planned outages until after 15th January 2021 as it announced that its 69kV Submarine Cable is back in operation after extensive repairs were done. The cable which runs under the Demerara River and links the Vreed-en-Hoop and Kingston power plans was severed some weeks ago by a vessel.

Extensive repairs were undertaken and the company on Thursday said that some14 Megawatt (MW) of power is being supplied to Eastern Section of the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS).

Ningbo Orient Wires and Cables Company Limited on sub-contract from China National Machinery Import Export Corporation had undertaken the repairs to the cable and the company said that its restoration could “improve Grid generation capacity, stability and resiliency”.

Meanwhile, the Power company said that even with this supply it is concerned about the poor performance of its distribution network, as it cited “burnt connections, fallen poles, burnt transformers, damaged cables and switches, vegetation encumbrance, among other reasons,” for the recent outages that affected the entire West and East Bank of Demerara and East Coast of Demerara recently.

The company said that the performance of its “aged distribution network” has not served to compliment the efforts and resources put into adequate generation capacity. It plans to continue network inspection during the holidays to identify threats and take corrective action the company said.