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.
The team immediately began restoration efforts and at approximately 11:45 hrs the first area in Demerara was repowered. Incremental restoration continued until remedial work on the L3 Transmission Line was completed at 17:10 hrs and the line was re-energized.
GPL said that it was later revealed that a contractor was conducting vegetation clearing along the corridors of GPL’s Transmission Line at Friendship Backdam area. His unsupervised actions subsequently burst the L3 conductor, resulting in the disruption of service to customers.
The power company say that it has notified the Guyana Police Force who will institute the necessary actions against the contractor. GPL says it intends to seek compensation from the contractor for damage to the network and disruption of services.
It again implored contractors to contact GPL before executing work in close proximity to its network.
