On Good Friday, there were protracted power outages due to system failures at GPL’s substations in Kingston, Georgetown, and Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara.
This was made known by Guyana Power and Light (GPL) System Control and Operations Manager, Navin Deonarayan, during a video update following the nationwide outage.
He informed that “at approximately 2.44 hours, GPL experienced a trip at the Kingston Power Plant due to a damaged cable.”
The GPL official stated that the emergency team worked assiduously towards the restoration of service but at 03.20 hours, while attempting to repower the affected areas, they experienced a system disturbance at that plant.
Deonarayan added that while this issue was being rectified at the Kingston substation, regrettably another shutdown occurred during the afternoon at the Garden of Eden location.
“That was investigated and we subsequently found what the issue was and we corrected it. We have powered back the entire system and we continue to supply the country with reliable power.”
The System Control and Operations Manager assured that they are working to avoid such recurrences
The power utility company in a release yesterday confirmed that a team of technicians, upon subsequent examination discovered a severely damaged cable which affected the 69kV power transformer at Kingston. It noted that at the time, the Kingston facility was generating 44.9 megawatts (MW).
GPL informed that the loss in generation activated the protection systems at the other generation stations causing those generators to go offline, leading to a widespread outage. “Restoration recommenced and repair works thereafter. At approximately 5:07 hours, all areas were repowered.” It added, “Subsequently, at 17:55 hours, a second fault developed at the Kingston location, which de-energized the earlier repaired cable. At the time, the Kingston facility was generating a total of 40.4 MW.”
Consequently, service to customers in Demerara and Berbice was disrupted.
GPL reported that “following immediate attempts to repower, it experienced a trip at (the) Garden of Eden facility.” It informed that a team was dispatched to investigate the cause of the trip and institute corrective actions, and at 22.55 hours, all areas were repowered.
The company also assured that its technicians are presently working at its Kingston facility to correct the fault and prevent any recurrence. “We understand the inconveniences associated with unplanned service interruptions and remain committed to eliminating these occurrences by working assiduously towards ensuring a safe and reliable power supply to our customers,” the release added.
