Power supply back to normal in Bartica, Berbice – GPL

The Guyana Power and Light said that electricity supply has returned to normalcy in Bartica and in Berbice following works by the company to remedy the situation in both locations.

“Guyana Power & Light Inc is pleased to announce that electricity generation in Bartica has been restored to full capacity as a result of the installation to two generators, enabling the company to satisfy energy demand continuously,” the company said in a press release.

“In its endeavour to further improve the quality of supply, GPL is poised to upgrade its distribution system, the first phase of which will commence on Friday, September 27, 2013. During this phase, the North distribution line will be upgraded from 4.160KV to 13.8KV. Concomitant with this exercise, GPL will install and commission a 13.8KV sub-station transformer.  Distribution at the higher voltage will lead to improvement in the voltage levels and quality of supply,” said the release.

It said that in order to facilitate the upgrades,  residents in the area between 1st and 5th streets and  1st and 7th Avenues and Caribese Hill will be without power for short periods between 06:00 -16:00 hrs.

It said further near-term improvements will involve the relocation of the existing generation site; while at the same time installing a new generating set of 2MW capacity (current peak demand is approximately 1.5MW). “This new unit will have the capacity to satisfy the projected increasing demand, with second-hand sets as backup,” the release said.

In a second release, the company said that electricity supply to residents in Berbice was expected to return to normalcy by last night as technical teams continue to work assiduously to complete repairs to the two damaged raw water pumps at GPL’s pump house at Canefield Power Station.

“Repairs to one of the damaged pumps has been completed thus enabling one of the two Mirrlees diesel generators to become fully functional since last night. However, work is progressing on schedule and the second generator is expected to be operational by this evening,” the company said in its release.

It said that the quality of electricity supplied to residents in Berbice was affected due to extensive structural damage caused by an ocean going vessel that collided into the Company’s pump house at Canefield Power Station.