Less power outages for Anna Regina
Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson
Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson

…power engines, solar-powered equipment to be installed

 

RESIDENTS of Anna Regina on the Essequibo Coast are expected to receive a boost of power next month when several power engines as well as solar- powered equipment are installed in the Cinderella County.At the same time, redundancy cables which will provide back-up to the power grid in the event of a failure are being installed across the country, including at Craig on the East Bank of Demerara.
This was disclosed on Monday evening when Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson spoke on a motion brought to the National Assembly by the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) regarding the state of the Guyana Power and light (GPL). The motion was subsequently defeated by the government.
While admitting that more work has to be done regarding the power company’s service to consumers, Patterson said that three engines have been procured for Anna Regina and should be installed by March. In addition, he said that “we will be installing equal amounts of 5.5 megawatts of solar power to Anna Regina.”
He noted too that power engines have also been procured for the town of Bartica in Region Seven and these will be installed in the weeks ahead.
Closer to the capital, Patterson said that despite the existence of 13.8 megawatt cable at Craig on the East Bank of Demerara, the previous government decided to place a 69 kilo-volt amps (KVA) submarine cable across the Demarara River, connecting the Vreed-en-Hoop and Kingston power stations. The cable was laid during 2012.
He said that the move was described as a “choke-hold” from the inception, given the volume of marine traffic which traverses the area. Subsequently, the cable was damaged and a sum of US$395,000 was spent to fix the cable.
“The problem is that there is no redundancy whatsoever,” he added, noting that nothing else could have been done at the time to minimize the situation but to carry out load-shedding exercises.
Patterson informed the National Assembly that a redundancy cable is being placed at the new substation at Craig.
“Should the cable ever go down again, there is always a ready supply of power”, he said regarding the latter being installed as a back-up to the cable linking Vreed-en-Hoop with Kingston.
Within Georgetown, Patterson said that the 30 megawatt of power which runs from Kingston to Sophia via the Lamaha Street Embankment is transmitted via a solitary cable.
“Sir if a donkey cart knock into it there is nothing else we can do,” he said, noting that in many other jurisdictions there is a loop structured configuration which provides for any eventuality.
He said that when a feeder trips, noting else could be done until it can be fixed in order to restore power to the grid. To correct the situation, Patterson noted that ring circuits and loops are being constructed and he noted that tenders have been prepared in that regard.
During his presentation, he said that the previous government depended heavily on the Amaila Falls hydropower project, citing it as its “silver bullet” to supply power to the national grid. He also informed the House that private entities had in the past proposed to supply power to the national grid. One such company is Banks DIH, which he noted “sent big proposals” to the previous government of the excess power that entity possessed.

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