THE modernisation of Guyana’s archaic electricity transmission and distribution (T&D) network, operated by the State-owned Guyana Power & Light (GPL) Inc, is swiftly moving apace for substantial completion by the December 2013 deadline. This was stated during a public forum, by the utility’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Bharat Dindyal, on September 6, at Duke Lodge, Kingston, Georgetown. 

The presentation is mandated by GPL’s licence and aimed at informing and educating the public on its financial and operational performances.
Dindyal spoke about the company’s progress since 2003 and highlighted the investments to transform the quality of services to all customers through expanding and modernising the infrastructure.
Reflecting on the challenges and accomplishments of GPL since the retention of a local management team in 2003, he noted that, contrary to the perception being created publicly, it has made important strides despite issues with funding.
Dindyal said, in 2003, GPL inherited backlog maintenance, inadequate and suspect generation, poorly maintained and inadequate T&D infrastructure, coupled with a severely compromised metering system which resulted in huge technical and commercial losses.
He said, over the 10-year period under local management, GPL has increased base load generation capacity by 44 megawatts (MW) and now has available capacity of 129 MW to meet a 103 MW peak while serving over 170,000 residential and commercial customers.
The Inter-American Development Bank has provided over US$11M, since 2006, for loss reduction and continues to look at more investments to help the company deal with this pervasive problem.
Dindyal said: “Right now, we are playing catch-up, it is very easy to criticise GPL when we have so much to do and the priority list remains very long. When our 26 MW plant is commissioned early next year and when the other projects that the Chinese are constructing are completed, we would have an excellent foundation on which to move the company forward.”

Major investment
Referring to the massive Infrastructural Development Programme (IDP), upon which the company has embarked, he said that this is the first major investment in technical loss reduction in the power company’s history.

“The IDP will deliver seven new 69/13.8 kV sub- stations, approximately 96 km of 69 kV overhead transmission lines, the upgrade and expansion of three existing sub-stations, over 240Km Fiber Optic Network, Linking all sub-stations, from Skeldon in the East, Edinburgh in the West and Garden of Eden in the South, to a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) System at a New Control Centre at Sophia.
“The Transmission Lines and sub-stations will serve to integrate major load centres along the Coast and will provide the capability to move bulk power from large, efficient, heavy fuel oil fired generating plants in Demerara and Berbice to those load centres. Additionally, 26 new 13.8 kV primary distribution feeder outlets at the sub-stations will allow existing long, overloaded feeders, especially on the East and West Coast Demerara, to be segmented into shorter, more lightly loaded sections.
“These developments will result in improved quality of supply, system stability, improved voltage regulation and reduction of technical losses. They will also prepare the system to accept and distribute power from the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project,” Dindyal said.