GPL today said that a canter crashed into a power pole last night at Mon Repos triggering a shutdown of the Demerara Berbice Interconnected System.
The GPL press release follows:
At approximately 20:18 hrs last evening, a canter while en route east along the railway embankment crashed and broke a pole at Mon Repos supporting a primary 69 kv transmission line linking the Demerara and Berbice systems resulting in a Demerara Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) shutdown.
The affected transmission line was isolated and efforts to restore power commenced around 20:45 hrs. However due to a defective breaker, two further shutdowns were experienced during attempts of power restoration.
Thereafter, all areas apart from communities along the East Coast Demerara to sections of Seafield, WCB were repowered by midnight (excluding Enmore to Victoria who were repowered at 01: 16hrs).
In the County of Berbice, power restoration commenced around 22:00hrs with generation being supplied from the Canefield Power Plant, Skeldon and Onverwagt facilities.
Temporary remedial works to restore the broken pole lasted until 05:30hrs this morning after which all remaining affected consumers in Demerara and Berbice were fully repowered.
It should be noted that this shutdown follows one which occurred over a month ago in central Georgetown. Reckless use of the roadways has caused numerous structural damages to GPL’s property and major inconveniences to our valued customers. We plead yet again with all road users to exhibit due caution on the roadways.
GPL will be replacing the temporary infrastructure at Mon Repos shortly which will require an outage during the day. The schedule for this outage will be communicated to the public as the schedule is currently being determined.
Our Company extends sincerest appreciation to the dedicated staff and contractors who worked tirelessly to restore electricity to all affected customers and apologizes for the inconvenience caused.
Essequibo
The No#1 Wartsila Unit and Caterpillar Genset at Anna Regina experienced some minor mechanical issues over this past weekend resulting in brief intermittent outages at Anna Regina. The issues were identified and corrected on the Caterpillar set this morning which will reduce any further interruptions in the supply of electricity. A troubleshooting exercise was performed on the Wartsila Unit with further work required during the week.
