GPL’s damaged 69kV Submarine Cable back in operation

The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated’s (GPL) 69kV submarine cable is back in operation following the successful completion of remedial work by Ningbo Orient Wires and Cables Company Limited on sub-contract from CMC, the power company said Thursday.

The submarine cable which links the Vreed-en-Hoop and Kingston substations was damaged on November 27, 2020 by a vessel’s anchor.

Approximately 14 Megawatt (MW) of power is being supplied to the Eastern Section of the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS).

GPL said it will link the West Demerara system with the remainder of the DBIS.

“While additional measures are in place to monitor the safety of the cable, it continues to be exposed to similar potential damage. In this regard, in 2021 we will pursue more substantial steps to further secure it.

The restoration of the cable would further improve Grid generation capacity, stability and resiliency; however, the continued poor performance of the distribution network remains a cause for serious concern,” GPL said in a statement.

The entire West and East Bank of Demerara endured repeated outages over the past month due to burnt connections, fallen poles, burnt transformers, damaged cables and switches, vegetation encumbrance, among other reasons. Similarly, over the past week the East Coast has been experiencing similar problems.

“The performance of our aged distribution network at this critical period of the year has not served to compliment the efforts and resources put into adequate generation capacity.

Therefore, our posture through the holiday season would be to continue network inspection to identify threats and take corrective action. No planned outages will be scheduled until after 2021 January 15, however, corrective actions will be taken in emergencies,” GPL said.

The power company said that given the frequent heavy downpours, it is difficult to locate and rectify network faults.

“As such, we implore residents to assist us in identifying problems so that we can swiftly attend to them. Reports can be made to our Emergency Call Center on Telephone Number 226-2600 and our Public Relations Unit on 225-1471,” GPL said while wishing customers a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2021.