THE Guyana Power and Light (GPL) yesterday advised customers in Berbice that, the number four Mirrlees generating set at Canefield suffered a major mechanical failure last Saturday. This resulted in widespread load shedding until Sunday afternoon when the new 69KV transmission link to Skeldon was commissioned.

GPL was able to utilise the three Wartsila generators at Skeldon to restore some level of normalcy.

In the absence of the number four Mirrlees, two Caterpillar Power Modules with total capacity of 3MW has been dispatched to Canefield. Both units were online yesterday. With the addition of this 3MW, the total capacity in Berbice will be 17MW, which will be adequate to meet the peak demand of 15.5MW.

GPL’s technicians are working assiduously to complete the rebuild of the 5MW, number three Mirrlees unit at Canefield by the end of March. We are also working to return the 2.5MW number five EMD at Onverwagt to service by the second week of April.

GPL said, “We wish to assure consumers that every effort would be made to maintain a normal supply of electricity but in the absence of any generation reserves periods of load shedding can be expected.  We will notify consumer of outages where these are planned.  GPL regrets any inconvenience and wish to thank its valued customers for their patience and understanding”.