-as part of preparations for Christmas season
AHEAD of the busy Christmas season, the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) is set to undertake maintenance works today on the country’s second power ship, docked at the Demerara Sugar Terminal, Ruimveldt.
This was disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer of GPL, Kesh Nandlall, who engaged members of the media on board the power ship on Friday.
During the engagement, Nandlall disclosed that the power company has recognised that there were some hotspots in relation to the connection of the power ship and the 69kv line, which was constructed to link the vessel to the country’s grid.
What is expected to happen today, he explained, is that the power ship will be disconnected from the grid for maintenance to be done on the lines.
The “hotspots” it was disclosed were discovered using thermal imaging and as such a decision was made to have maintenance done to correct issues before they worsen. Officials onsite noted that if it persists without maintenance, it can cause a total shutdown of the system.
“So, we will be taking off this power ship, the L10 transmission line, the new Georgetown substation will be disconnected from the grid from 6 am to 12 noon,” he said while noting that during that time, the works will be conducted.
Against this backdrop, Nandlall addressed readiness for the holiday season and stated that this is all part of preparedness for the season.
“This is all part of us being prepared. We have been doing a lot of maintenance works, which requires some amount of outages. We apologise for that. We need to do maintenance works so that we can have reliable power and distribution for the holidays,” he added.
Further to this, he noted that the peak demand for the year came around 221 megawatts just around September-October, which is usually the peak demand period.
With this, Nandlall sought to clarify the misconception that the Christmas season is the peak demand season for power here, stating, “Christmas is not really our peak, and it’s something we need to clarify, our peak really is in the hot season, which is September-October.”
To this end, the CEO stated that they expect demand for the holiday season to peak around 210 to 215 megawatts, even as the current generation capacity is around 250 megawatts. He emphasised that presently, the company is in a comfortable position.
As a result of the maintenance works, areas expected to be affected by an interruption in electricity supply include South and North Ruimveldt, Tucville, Lamaha Park and Springs, Guyhoc Park and Gardens, Roxanne Burnham Gardens, Shirley Field Ridley Square, Cane View Avenue, Industrial Estate & Industrial Site to Agricola, Republic Park and Gardens, Nandy Park, Continental Park and Anaida Avenue and Ubani Avenue, Eccles.
