Explosion disrupted Demerara-Berbice power supply – GPL

One of the damaged areas. (GPL photo)
One of the damaged areas. (GPL photo)

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) today said that at approximately 09:40 hrs. yesterday morning a switchgear at the Kingston One Power Plant was taken out of service following an abnormal electrical discharge on the Number Four Generator circuit breaker and a resulting explosion.

On account of this, GPL said that two of its Transformers at the Kingston Substation experienced a disturbance, which resulted in the sudden loss of approximately 22 Megawatts of generation. The sudden loss of generation caused a cascading effect, resulting in all other plants going offline, disrupting service to customers in Demerara and Berbice.

Incremental restoration along with a preliminary investigation started immediately and at approximately 09:54 hrs the first area in Demerara was repowered. Restoration efforts continued until all areas in Demerara and Berbice were repowered at approximately 16:18 hrs.

Currently, an investigation to determine the root cause of the events that occurred is ongoing.