GUYANA Power & Light (GPL) has announced that the 5.5 megawatts number four unit at the Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara, Wartsila plant was released from service for major maintenance, at midnight on Monday. The downtime is expected to last ten days, during which the major mechanical overhaul would be completed and the refurbished number three alternator installed on the unit, the utility advised. 
The advisory said the alternator for the number four unit is being removed for major maintenance while the alternator from the damaged number three unit, which has been refurbished, would be installed in its place.
“A modern control panel would also be installed and commissioned on the number four unit, to replace the existing panel which has become obsolete.
“In the absence of the number four Wartsila unit, GPL would still have available capacity of 77 mw. The recent peak demand has been 74 mw but, since the available capacity includes 23 mw of suspect capacity, a load-shedding guide will be published as a precaution.
“The guide would be advertised on radio and television channels 11 and six and be published in the Guyana Chronicle today,” GPL said. 
It also disclosed that the six new Caterpillar modules, which have been contracted by GPL, were scheduled to arrive yesterday and the additional 9 mw capacity would be installed at Garden of Eden.
The first unit is expected on line by Saturday, June 11 and GPL undertook to update its customers of the progress in commissioning the fleet next Tuesday, the advisory said, adding regrets for the inconvenience any load-shedding would cause and soliciting their patience and understanding.