– resulting in Monday night’s blackout

THE Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) reported that, on Monday evening, the transmission line linking the Berbice and Demerara Systems tripped on a three phase fault while 6 MW was being transferred from Berbice to Demerara.

GPL said the sudden loss in capacity resulted in a shutdown of the Demerara System and the Onverwagt substation at 19:48 hrs. While the link was reestablished on Monday night, crews from the power company were yesterday still examining the line to identify the source of the fault.

GPL said repowering efforts commenced at 20:14hrs, with the last affected area being repowered at 22:30hrs.

Meanwhile, replacement of the damaged turbo charger outlet casing on the No. 4 Wartsila DG at GPL’s Garden of Eden Plant was completed and the machine returned to service Monday night.

Unfortunately, the No. 4 Diesel Generator at the Kingston 1 Plant did not return to service yesterday morning as expected due to problems encountered during recommissioning. GPL said these have been addressed and recommissioning continues with the expectation of it being available by 18:00hrs last evening.
“As previously indicated, maintenance on the Nos. 1 and 2 turbines at Skeldon is currently underway thus restricting the capacity available to the grid until 8 pm (last night),” GPL said in a statement yesterday.

As a result, the following load shedding guide was in effect yesterday:

* 10:00-14:00 hrs – Lamaha Gardens, part of Prashad Nagar, Campbelville east of Sheriff and south of Dennis Sts.

* 14:00-18:00 hrs – Environs of ‘A’ to ‘E’ Fields, Sophia and New Amsterdam.

* 18:00-22:00 hrs Victoria to Bygeval ECD and Canefield to Auchlyne

GPL said it will endeavour to provide timely notices to mitigate inconveniences. It advises customers to check the company’s website at www.gplinc.com or its Facebook Page (GPL Inc.) for updates as they may arise.