Following continuous outages along the Essequibo Coast, the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) is advising residents that it is working to restore their power supply by tomorrow.
GPL, in a statement that was issued yesterday, explained that outages along the Essequibo Coast over the past week have been due to the breakdown of two generating units.
It said on Monday, August 13th and Thursday, August 16th, its No. 3 and No. 8 units, with an aggregate capacity of 2.8 Megawatts (MWs), became inoperable due to major mechanical and electrical issues, respectively.
It added that since its No. 5 Unit, with a capacity of 1.4 MWs, was unavailable due to a major overhaul, only two units totaling 3 MWs are in operation, while the peak demand is approximately 4.2 MWs. “As this cannot satisfy the demand of the entire Coast, load shedding was implemented. A five-day load shedding schedule was issued to residents until the expected return to normalcy on Monday 20th,” GPL said.
In the short term, the statement said, GPL is arranging the transfer of two Caterpillar units with a total capacity of 2.8 MWs. One unit will arrive in Essequibo today, resulting in a total capacity of 4.6 MWs when installation is completed. The other unit will arrive on or before Tuesday, August 21st.
GPL added that it is continuing to pursue a permanent solution to the power shortages on the Coast and that steady progress is being made to meet its goal of having the new power station commissioned and operational during the last quarter of the year.
