THE Guyana Power and Light (GPL) says it remains committed to providing reliable electricity supply to customers during the holiday season.

In a statement, the GPL said it has made every effort to ensure the availability of generating units, however, the inadequacies in the aged Transmission and Distribution (T&D) network continue to pose problems. This has been exacerbated by persons accidentally coming into contact with the facilities. “The most recent was December 23, when a privately operated excavator came into contact with one of our primary distribution lines, resulting in the entire line going out of service and outages in the Eastern Georgetown area for approximately an hour. Therefore, we urge the public to exercise caution when operating machinery within close proximity to our infrastructure,” GPL said in a statement issued on Monday.

According to the GPL, it concluded pre-planned maintenance activities on the T&D network on December 16. The team, however, continues to patrol and monitor the various systems to ensure that issues that could cause potential widespread outages during the holidays are addressed, the statement added. In some instances, this may mean having localised outages for shorter periods of time. “We apologise for these situations, but they are necessary, given the vulnerabilities in the T&D network, to prevent more widespread outages and potential total system shutdown,” GPL explained.

The following is a breakdown of the situation for the areas served by GPL. It should, however, be noted that in all instances the distribution network is radial and failure of any one component is likely to result in outages to customers.” We are using our best efforts to prevent these failures and to act promptly when they occur in order to minimise supply interruptions.

DEMERARA-BERBICE INTERCONNECTED SYSTEM (DBIS)
The current available generation capacity within the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) is 133.7 Megawatts (MW). This means all existing operable units are available, thanks to the extraordinary effort of the team. Peak demand during the season is expected to be about 112 MW and therefore, barring multiple plant failures, there will be enough generating capacity to meet demand.

ESSEQUIBO
• Anna Regina
Commissioning of the new Anna Regina Power Station has progressed to the stage where the three units totaling 5.4 MW are now available to complement the existing generating sets, for a total available capacity of over 12 MW. Even though the new units are still under observation, having just commenced operation, there is enough capacity to adequately meet the expected demand of approximately 5 MW.

• Bartica
4.3 MW of generation will be available to provide customers in Bartica with an adequate power supply to meet the peak demand of approximately 1.6 MW.

• Leguan
Two units with an aggregate capacity of 828 Kilowatts (kW) are currently available at Leguan. These units will adequately supply the peak demand of approximately 280 kW. Generation capacity will be boosted in January with an additional 414 kW.

• Wakenaam
With a peak demand of approximately 280 kW, customers in Wakenaam will have adequate power generation with the availability of 650 kW. An additional 325 kW will be added by month end.

IMPROVEMENTS IN 2018
In 2017, the GPL recorded a total of 25 total system shutdowns. For 2018, we have managed to reduce this to 12, with one since September. This is largely due to the hard work and innovation of the team.
As we work towards improving our service delivery, we take this opportunity to wish all our customers a safe and enjoyable holiday season.