There was a major shutdown of the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System on Monday after a truck being used to execute works along the Lamaha embankment collided with a pole supporting a key Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) transmission line.
In the press release issued on Monday evening, GPL said that the collision occurred at approximately 17:23 hours when the truck, utilized by the C&L Construction Company to execute work on the Lamaha Embankment, collided with and broke a pole supporting the L5 Transmission Line.
GPL explained that the line is a critical link in the transfer of bulk power from the Kingston generating facility to the Control Centre at Sophia to dispatch power into distribution network. At the time of the accident the line was transferring approximately 20 Megawatts of bulk power to the Control Centre.
The sudden loss of generation caused the Kingston, Vreed-en-Hoop and Garden of Eden Plants to go offline. Remedial work to replace the broken pole on the Lamaha Embankment commenced immediately. Incremental restoration began at approximately 17:45 hours in Demerara. The remaining areas in Demerara and Berbice were repowered at approximately 20:14 hrs.
The truck driver was taken into police custody.
