-CEO says crews are working around the clock to address overloaded infrastructure
THE Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has replaced approximately 5,000 transformers as the company continues to grapple with mounting electricity demand and an ageing distribution network.
GPL’s Chief Executive Officer Kesh Nandlall, on a recent episode of the Starting Point podcast, said the rapid growth in demand has placed significant pressure on the network, resulting in overloaded transformers and other infrastructure challenges.
Nandlall said peak electricity demand has risen sharply in recent years, increasing from 125 megawatts in 2020 to approximately 255 megawatts currently.
“The growth in the demand is… taxing the network, the distribution network, and we are seeing overloaded networks. We are seeing transformers overload,” he said.
The increased demand is occurring alongside a significant expansion in GPL’s customer base, which Nandlall said has grown from approximately 201,000 customers in 2020 to about 250,000 currently.
He said growth in housing, manufacturing, hotels and other business sectors has also contributed to the increased demand for electricity.
Nandlall said GPL’s teams have been working continuously to address the pressure on the network, including replacing transformers and responding to faults.
“I’ll give you a number. With all this is happening, our teams had to change out 5000 transformers. These are 5000 transformers,” he said.
The CEO said GPL maintains a 24-hour emergency response service to deal with faults and other problems affecting customers.
“We have 24-hour service. I know sometimes it gets very tough if you have a storm. You can’t respond to others. We understand that, but we have 24-hour emergency, and they are there on the road 24-seven,” Nandlall said.
Despite the immediate work being undertaken, Nandlall acknowledged that the utility faces a longer-term challenge because portions of its infrastructure are aged and have not kept pace with the growth in demand.
He said some of GPL’s generators are about 30 years old and beyond their economic life, while some substations currently in use date back to 1974.
