Guyana Power and Light CEO Bharrat Dindyal says work on seven substations is moving apace and the company hopes to commission those on the West Bank Demerara next month as it implements its massive US$42M infrastructural improvement programme.
On Monday Dindyal said the substations are expected to be completed by September 2013. “However, given the situation on the West Bank of Demerara, construction of those facilities has been prioritised and the power company is hoping to commission them next month,” a Govern-ment Information Agency (GINA) press release reported him as saying.
The substations are being built at Edinburgh and Vreed-en-Hoop, North Ruimveldt, Sophia, Golden Grove and Good Hope. “With these facilities we are now in a position to move bulk power from East to West Demerara,” Dindyal said. Once the system is fully operational on the West Coast Demerara, GPL will be able to deploy a total of six feeders from Versailles to Roden Rust instead of just one, thereby drastically improving the reliability and quality of the electricity supply on the West Coast.
A US$5M submarine cable has been laid three and half metres below the bed of the Demerara River; however, GPL is currently working with another contractor to sink the cable down to a total depth of seven-and-a-half metres in the river channel. Dindyal explained that has become necessary since there are talks of dredging the Demerara River to a depth of 10 metres.
“If this were to happen, then it would mean that the cable would be sitting right at the surface of the river and it will run the risk of being damaged by vessels,” GINA quoted him as saying. However, at seven-and-a-half metres, it would not be affected during the dredging process.
GINA said the laying of the 100-tonne cable which has a capacity to deliver over 150 megawatts of power is part of a massive US$42M infrastructural development programme funded though a loan from the China Exim Bank.
According to the GINA release, the Kingston substation will be expanded to receive the cable which will be linked before being connected to the data management hub at Sophia. It will then boast a total of 70MVA transformer capacity that will see the company itself having a total of 250 MVA substation capacity.
“The completion of all these facilities will dramatically improve the power supply quality East and West Coast and East Bank Demerara, and with the connection of the Berbice grid to Demerara, the reliability of power in Berbice will dramatically improve,” Dindyal said. He also said that linking the Berbice and Demerara system will enable the former to benefit from the strength of the latter. These projects are aimed at improving the networks across the country and make them ready for a planned 165-megawatt hydro electric facility at Amaila Falls, Region Eight, GINA said.
