Latest update February 14th, 2025 8:22 AM
Laying of US$5M submarine cable…. Power company cautions mariners to stay clear of barge
The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) is advising mariners to stay clear of the
The insulated cable from the Kingston end which has to be spliced
Barge “ANSAR” which is being mobilized by the GPL Infrastructure Development Project for the laying of a US$5M submarine cable across the Demerara River
“The power company advises that all Mariners are requested to stay clear of this vessel and to navigate with caution in its vicinity. Communication can be made on VHF CH.16 via the Georgetown Lighthouse,” a statement from the company indicated.
It was further noted by GPL that this project is expected to last five (5) weeks.
According to the company, the Cable will be linking the Kingston Power Plant to the Vreed-en-Hoop Installation between the following co-ordinates:
Latitude Longitude
06° 49’ 24” N 085° 09’ 58” W
06° 48’ 46” N 085° 10’ 42” W
“The Barge (“ANSAR”) with attending Tug (“C.B.J”) will be operating on a twenty-four (24) hours schedule and will be restricted in its ability to maneuver. During daylight hours, the vessel will display a vertical signal-blackball, diamond, black ball, whilst during the hours of darkness-vertical lights red, white, red will be displayed.”
GPL has already begun laying the cables, which have the capacity to deliver over 150 megawatts to West Demerara. Using Chinese expertise, the company has also been laying cables at the Kingston Power Plant where the Georgetown substation is located and over at the Vreed-en-Hoop substation. The two ends will be connected via cables which are to be laid under the Demerara River.
“The procedure for laying this cable is that they are going to stretch it across the Demerara River, lay it on the bed of the river. And of course, they now go down subsequently with a high pressure jet and they will actually jet out the excavation and the cable will now sink into that excavation which is a minimum of three and a half metres,” GPL CEO Bharat Dindyal had explained.
The power company is seeking to go down about seven metres into the channel to avoid the cables being damaged by ships’ anchors as they traverse the channel. Years ago, the then Guyana Electricity Corporation had a 12 KB cable connecting the Kingston power station to the West Demerara via the river, but that cable was damaged by a ship’s anchor.
The Chinese Infrastructure Development Project is being financed at a cost of US$42 million. The project is expected to radically improve power generation for West Demerara. Last year, the power company received equipment to begin works, including the cables. The project is scheduled to be completed in September 2013.
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