GPL apologises for unscheduled power outages

The Guyana Power and Light Inc apologised to consumers for the series of power outages on Sunday that affected service in Georgetown, East Coast, East Bank, West Coast and West Bank Demerara.

A press release from the company stated that apart from the scheduled outages under the Infrastructure Development Project, to facilitate work to the Sophia 69Kv substation and on various feeders to allow construction under the Infrastructure Development Project to proceed, as the Demerara System was being reintegrated, a series of problems occurred. These problems including frequency conversion, transmission line and feeder issues, caused multiple outages.

GPL said that during scheduled outages modifications were made to the Sophia 69Kv substation, power cables for feeders serving the lower East Coast, sections of Georgetown and East Bank Demerara were shifted and stringing of conductors for a new transmission line to south Georgetown was done.  However the outages exceeded the planned duration.

GPL said construction work under the Infrastructure Development Project is now expected to progress rapidly at the old and new Sophia substations and on the new transmission lines to the East Coast Demerara and within Georgetown.

GPL is also advising consumers that frequency conversion of the Kingston 22MW Wartsila Power Plant is progressing according to plan. The second 5.5MW generator was shut down on Sunday night for necessary works after the conversion of the first generator was completed and put back into service. The entire 22MW plant is scheduled to be operating at 60Hz by the end of July.

GPL thanked consumers for their patience and understanding as they construct the new facilities to improve their service.