The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has mobilized significant efforts to restore stable electricity supply to Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), following unexpected failures in three power generation engines.

The township has been grappling with prolonged blackouts over the past few days, disrupting daily life for residents and forcing many businesses to reduce operations.

Households have also struggled with the intermittent power supply.

When contacted on Tuesday, the head of GPL’s Executive Management Committee, Kesh Nandlall, gave assurances that engineers are working nonstop to expedite the repair process.

The Bartica Power Plant, which serves as the primary electricity source for the town and its surrounding areas, was severely impacted when three of its four engines experienced simultaneous failures.  Two of them are required to meet the demand, while two serve as a standby unit.

“One [of the engines] had a coupling issue and that created the problem and brought down the other engines because of the surge in demand,” Nandlall explained.

As a result of this, only one engine had been operational in conjunction with the solar farm.

The unavailability of the three critical units has resulted in a reduced generation capacity at the Bartica Power Plant, prompting the need for scheduled service interruption in the township.

Nandlall had promised that by Tuesday night, the electrical supply would return to normal.
To stabilise the situation, he stated that a 1.5-megawatt Caterpillar engine had been installed and that a 1.1-megawatt Cummings engine would be installed on Wednesday.

However, on Wednesday the power company said that despite our team’s best efforts, they were unable to bring the Caterpillar engine online last evening due to unexpected alignment issues with the alternator.

“The team worked until 2:00 AM this morning and has made substantial progress. We expect to complete work today and bring the engine online at the power plant to restore service to the Township.

“Additionally, we have a contractor on site to support our team in completing repairs on the other offline engines, which will provide reserve generation capacity. We apologize for the inconvenience and want to reassure our customers of our commitment to restoring normal power supply to Bartica,” the power company said in a statement.

Due to three engines being unavailable at the Bartica Power Plant, there will be 4-hour service intervals within the township from Wednesday.