THE Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) wishes to thank all its valued customers for their support and tolerance displayed during the extended period of power outage on Sunday, July 14, 2013, occasioned by extensive infrastructural work conducted at the Sophia 69 kV Substation in Georgetown.

The power company is pleased to announce that Sunday’s exercise facilitated successful connection of existing and new equipment at the upgraded Sophia 69 kV Substation. Work had been proceeding in a live environment, and a planned shutdown of the substation was required as an unavoidable and a necessary requirement to ensure safety of the construction workers.
GPL’s media release noted that the substation upgrade is a component of GPL’s infrastructure development project, which is being implemented incrementally across Guyana as part of the company’s initiative to modernize its transmission and distribution networks nationwide. Last Sunday’s exercise was part of upgrading the second of three existing substations to be upgraded. The release said the first substation to be upgraded was the Kingston Substation, which was successfully commissioned during last November/December, along with the Priority Works on the West Demerara. The third substation to be upgraded is at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice, and work is scheduled to commence there by next week.
The upgrades/modifications will facilitate that substation’s connection to the New Georgetown Substation at North Ruimveldt via a short 69 kV transmission line; as well as its connection to the New Sophia Substation and the Control Centre, which has been constructed immediately to the east.
Consequently, customers in the following areas were affected by the power outage:
East Coast Demerara between Liliendaal & Bygeval; Bel Air Village, Gardens, Promenade, Springs & Park; New Haven, Sophia, Lamaha Springs & Park; Congress Place, Lamaha Gardens, Festival City, North Ruimveldt, South Ruimveldt Park & sections of GuyHoc Park; Vlissengen Road between Lamaha Street & North Road; section of Laluni & Lance Gibbs Sts; Church St between Vlissengen Rd & New Garden St; Camp St between Lamaha & New Market Sts; New Market St between Camp & East Sts; Part of Thomas Street, North Cummingsburg and Sophia Exhibition Site.
The programme entails the construction of seven new 69/13.8 kV substations; expansion/upgrade of three existing 69/13.8 kV substations; construction of approximately 96 km of 69 kV transmission lines, including a link between the Demerara and Berbice Interconnected Systems; laying 2.1 km of submarine cable; construction of a new central control centre with SCADA capabilities; and installation of 251 km of fiber-optic cable.
Already, two new substations at Edinburgh, W.C.D and Vreed-en-Hoop, W.B.D, one expanded substation at Kingston, Georgetown and 14 km of interconnecting transmission lines with fibre-optic cable were constructed and commissioned during November/December 2012, and are in service. Work is currently proceeding on construction of the remaining five new substations — at New Sophia, Good Hope, New Georgetown, Columbia (Mahaicony) and Golden Grove, E.B.D., two expanded/upgraded stations at Sophia and Onverwagt W.C.B, the central control centre and 80 km of interconnecting transmission lines and fibre optic cable. The project is expected to be completed by December 2013.
GPL’s massive Infrastructure Development Project, funded under a loan agreement between the Government of Guyana and China Export and Import Bank, will benefit not only GPL and its customers, but the nation at large, as it paves the way for connection to, and acceptance of, power from the Amaila Falls Hydropower facility.
At a media briefing at the GPL head office, Senior Divisional Director of Operations and Projects, Mr. Colin Singh, reiterated that this is the second of the three upgrades, along with other priority works in the country that have been in service since.
He pointed out that Sophia is the system control and centre of all activity, and disclosed that the construction of a new sub-station at North Ruimveldt will be of assistance to the Sophia station.
Meanwhile, Representative of the China National Machinery Inc, Mr. Andrew Jin, said his company was privileged to be part of this project. He noted that his company and GPL maintain an excellent working relationship, and constantly communicate, as it is an important part of business to have contact between the contractor and employee.
He informed that the project is moving smoothly, and said it is of great quality and standard.
Jin said that, in order to ensure a robust project, it is proving beneficial to follow the standard 110 kV power project.
He posited that on Sunday the team was working with a time span, but was delayed by uncontrollable conditions; however, they tried their best to achieve the objectives.
Project Manager, Gail Best said the Sophia sub-station is the nerve centre for GPL and its system in both transmission and distribution, and it is impossible to shut it down completely for three months to facilitate works, thus the workers have had to operate in a live environment.
She continued that Sunday’s outage brought into service a new sectionalised system that would give the flexibility of isolating sections, instead of what happened yesterday, where the service of approximately 37,000 customers was interrupted.
She asserted that this was unavoidable, as the workers were not working from the ground, but were rather suspended in the air with spanners and crescents, and it was very difficult to work in such bad weather with such tools.
Nevertheless, she said, all works were completed, although not by the budgeted time, as works had to be tested and confirmed before the areas could have been powered again by the system control operatives. She also posited that Sunday’s outage was just to allow the project to move from step A to step B.
System Operation and Planning Engineer, Kempton France, said that the duration and frequency of outages will be reduced, as this is just one phase of the project. He said GPL is looking to effectively link the central control with the other new sub stations.