The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) is currently in discussion with engineers from the region and North America for assistance to repair the Demeraa River submarine power cable which was destroyed by a ship’s anchor on Friday.
Bharat Harjohn, Director of Power Generation and Distribution at GPL last night told Stabroek News that while they have contacted their engineers from China, they have also made contact with regional and North American engineers for assistance.
“We know with COVID-19 there can be restrictions to travel so we have reached out to our partners for help and by the end of this week we should have some answers on where we can get help,” he said.
He said they have already secured the materials for the repair which were stockpiled following the last cable severing but the installation requires a specific skill set which is not available in Guyana and as a result has to be outsourced.
“We don’t want to be directly dependent on the Chinese engineers so we have been exploring around and reaching out to other power companies because they have a similar set up like ours,” he noted.
No definite timeframe has been established for the repairs as yet.
Harjohn said alternative arrangements have been put in place to meet power demands and reduce outages.
“We have learned from our lessons and improved on our generation capacity so there should be no prolonged period of power outage. We will have enough electricity to meet the demands by customers”, he said.
Harjohn said they have utilized a new 13.8kV Submarine Cable from Vreed-en-Hoop to Princes Street to transfer power from the Vreed-en-Hoop Power Plant to the eastern side of the Demerara-Berbice Inter-connected System (DBIS) via an alternative route. He pointed out that this system is connected via a feeder transmission line.
“The Vreed-en- Hoop power plant generates 26 MW of power which is able to serve the west of Demerara and (leave) a reserve which used to be fed into the national grid but with it being disconnected, the power will be used to reach demands on the east of Demerara. With this system, if there is a trip at the plant and power is lost those customers on the east will be affected like customers in West Demerara,” Harjohn explained.
In a statement on Sunday, GPL listed a series of problems the most prominent of which was the severed cable across the Demerara River which links the Vreed-en-Hoop and Kingston power plants.
It said that on Friday, at approximately 7.08 am there was a fault on the 69kV Submarine Cable linking the Vreed-en-Hoop and Kingston Power Plants resulting from suspected damage from a ship’s anchor. The cable was raised on Saturday at which time that damage was confirmed and it was discovered that the cable was completely severed.
As a result of this incident, services to customers in regions 4, 5 and 6 were intermittently affected between Friday and Sunday.
Working with MARAD
When asked what type of vessel caused the damage to the power cables and whether sanctions will be imposed, Harjohn said that an investigation is underway and they are working with the Maritime Administration.
According to the GPL executive, he is hopeful that sanctions will be laid against the vessel by MARAD as the damage is severe.
From preliminary investigations, Harjohn said when the vessel dropped its anchor on the river bed it hooked onto the cable and this was dragged for some time
“We wish to assure our valued customers that the company is working assiduously to provide reliable supply for the upcoming festive season and beyond. GPL remains committed to providing a stable supply of electricity service to our valued customers and apologizes for any inconvenience caused”, GPL said in their statement on Sunday.
