GPL installs substitute submarine cable to decrease blackouts

The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated has completed the laying of a substitute submarine cable across the Demerara River linking the Vreed-en-hoop, West Bank Demerara and Kingston, Georgetown substations.

The cable is expected to contribute to a decline in blackouts plaguing the country since the damage of the company’s substantive power cable.

GPL’s Divisional Director of Operations, Bharat Harjohn told the News Room Monday that the temporary cable is 13.8 kilovolts and will transfer over six megawatts from the Vreed-en-hoop substation to the Kingston substation.

He noted that the cable will assist in supplying power to the eastern part of Georgetown.

When the News Room visited, the workers were doing tests to ensure the cable is working.

A ship’s anchor damaged the power company’s 29 kilovolt cable on June 2 disconnecting access to 14 megawatts of current which is usually sourced from the Vreed-en-Hoop substation.

As a result, residents of Georgetown, East Demerara and Berbice have been suffering from 8-hour long blackouts as the company engage in load shedding exercises.

Harjohn told the News Room that that damaged cable will take six to eight weeks to fix.

The cable was installed in March 2012 by the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) as part of a US$5 million project for the upgrade of GPL’s transmission and distribution systems. That company is responsible for fixing the cable.