No more blackouts? GPL says corrective work will hold up

By Stacy Carmichael-James

The management of the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated today informed the media, during a site visit that the spate of blackouts experienced over the weekend and this morning was as a result of its distribution lines at Vlissengen and Lamaha Streets, Georgetown coming into contact with a main transmission line.

According to Acting Chief Executive Officer of GPL, Renford Homer the shutdown of the Demerara- Berbice interconnected system took longer than usual to be rectified because one of its 13.8kv conductor located at Vlissengen and Lamaha Streets crossed path with its 69kv transmission line.

Homer said the problem was corrected, however, he explained that early Tuesday morning there was another disruption on the same distribution line known as the F9 resulting in more power outages.

In an effort to get to the bottom of the issue the acting CEO said engineers combed the entire F9 field and a shorter field known as the F3 which feeds more into Central Georgetown to identify possible defects that can lead to a short circuit.

Meantime, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson explained further that the system is designed to protect itself so in the event of any spike it shuts down itself automatically.

He noted too that the system is an old inheritance that needs to be upgraded and will be done with some 31 million US dollars to be allocated to GPL.

The Minister is asking motorists to exercise caution on the roadways since one of the causes for damages to utility poles are accidents.

Patterson is maintaining that there is no generation problem.