A contractor clearing vegetation in the Friendship backdam on the East Bank of Demerara triggered widespread power outages yesterday.
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) said that at approximately 11 am yesterday, one of the conductors of the L3 Transmission Line, which connects the Garden of Eden Power Plant to the Grove Substation burst. At the time, GPL said the line was transmitting approximately 25 Megawatts (MWs) of generation. This loss of generation caused a ripple effect on the grid resulting in several generating units going offline. Service to customers in Demerara and Berbice was disrupted.
GPL added that the burst live conductor that fell to the ground caused a grass fire, which impeded access to the transmission line. The Guyana Fire Service was immediately notified and a team was mobilized to put out the fire in order for the GPL team to begin remedial work.
