GPL begins laying of $5M submarine cable across Demerara River

Mar 14, 2012 News

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-power interruptions expected to ease

By Gary Eleazar

Electricity supply, particularly to the West Demerara area, will be greatly improved when the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Company completes laying its US$5M submarine along the river bed connecting the two grids.
The current cable which links the Garden of Eden power plant to West Demerara has been problematic with constant interruptions to power recorded in recent times.
This was underscored by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of that state-owned power company, Bharrat Dindyal, yesterday when he took media operatives on a mini-tour of the eastern landing platform for the cable at the Kingston Power Plant.
The laying of the submarine cable is but one component of the US$42M upgrade to the system being undertaken by the Chinese contractor and while Dindyal was not at the moment in a position to specify the figures, he stressed that there is sufficient liquidated damages penalty in place should the contractor default on the completion timeline.
That project is being undertaken by the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) and the deadline is set for September 2013.

The Chinese specialists aided with the use of local resources have commenced the laying of the submarine cable from the western end where it will be hoisted to erected poles and connected to a sub-station in the Vreed-en-Hoop area.
Dindyal explained that the Chinese contractor had imported into Guyana, a number of technical personnel, “because a cable as large as this needs people with special knowledge, but they have engaged the services of local equipment owners to transport the cable and assist with the laying.”
The cable is being strung from a barge which is already at the western end of the Demerara area.
“As you know this is a very large cable…in fact this cable itself has the capacity to deliver over 150MW to West Demerara,” Dindyal revealed.
A number of years ago, during the time of Guyana Electricity Corporation (GEC), there was an 11KV cable which was sunk in the Demerara River and had connected the Kingston Power Station to the West Demerara facility.
This cable was damaged by a ship’s anchor and subsequently abandoned.
This time around, the CEO emphasised that the cable will be sunk to a depth of some three and a half meters into the river bed while at the ship’s channel, the cable will make its way some seven meters down to avoid the possibility of damage.
This is to ensure the avoidance of rogue ships, according to Dindyal, “of course you know there are incidents where ships have dragged their anchors.”
Dindyal also used the opportunity to point out to the media that the telephone company, Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) will also be using the opportunity to ‘piggy back’ on GPL’s excavation exercise and lay its submarine fiber optic cable.
According to Dindyal, GT&T is assisting the cost of the excavation, albeit a “minimal fee….so from a national perspective we are doing more than one thing.”
The US$5M also has a fiber optic cable component and Dindyal again defended the use of an independent data conduit.
“The fiber optic cable will be used for communication for the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems) operations.”
The GPL boss also pointed out that the Kingston substation will be expanded to receive the US$5M cable which will be spliced and attached upon landing at Kingston. It will then be connected to the data management hub at Sophia.
“In total we will have 70MVA transformer capacity here…in total GPL has with this new transformer a total of 250MVA sub-station capacity.”
He said that with the Chinese upgrades to the system, an additional 117MVA will be added in six new substations.
Dindyal expressed optimism that progress will be sustained throughout the year and that by mid-2013 all of the scheduled works will be completed.
GPL is expecting the entire excavation process to take about 20 days with weather being one of the most immediate challenges.
However, the fact that the Demerara channel is being used constantly remains “the most important challenge in this case is that we are dealing with an active channel.”
“…and we need to work around them…so we are working with Maritime Administration. That government agency has already issued an advisory.
“Well of course people who are transiting the channel will have to understand that this equipment is operating and they have to be cautious.”
The cable currently being sunk in the Demerara River for the power company arrived in Guyana early last month and is said to weigh over 100 tonnes.
The project is part of GPL’s programme to improve the network across the country and make it ready for a planned 165 megawatt hydro electric facility at Amaila Falls, Region Eight.

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