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Berbicians to face four more weeks of power outages

Nov 03, 2012 News

 

Berbicians are being asked to bear with Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) for about four more weeks during which there will be sporadic blackouts. This is due to damage to the crucial and important 69 kV Transformer at the Canefield Power Station in East Canje.
This transformer is the crucial component in the Berbice Interconnected system whereby power can be shared amongst the three power sources in the Berbice area: Skeldon Sugar factory, Onverwagt and Canefield Power Stations. The stations, as a result of the damaged transformer, are no longer inter-linked and therefore, cannot share and transfer power.
GPL Area Manager, Mr. Ayube Bacchus, related the matter. “We have been temporarily affected by one of our 69,000 volts transformer…this equipment is part of the 69KV network that links the three generating facilities”.
Experts have done evaluation, he said, and “they have advised us on a way forward, which we have implemented. However, it was determined that the insulation wirings of that transformer were defective, hence that transformer was separated from the system”.
The engineers and experts, he stated, have advised the company not to re- use the transformer lest more damage be done to the system.
With this new development, it puts the company at a disadvantage to transfer load to the 69kv transmission line. Canefield, he said, can only power up to Salton on the Corentyne.
“This results in excess power from the Canefield not being exported to the grid, so if units are out on maintenance, there will be very short interruptions of electricity”.
But the fact is that, many parts of Berbice over the past couple of days have been receiving several rolling blackouts per day, with Canje and Corentyne being the hardest- hit areas.
With power no longer being shared amongst the stations, whenever there is a need for power from any given station at any point, there cannot be assistance from a nearby sub- station, hence, there is a generation shortfall, resulting in a blackout.
Berbicians have been reeling, over the past weeks, from rolling blackouts, sometimes several times a day. Some residents of Rose Hall Town have told Kaieteur News that up to Tuesday last, the town had only received three hours of electricity in a 48-hour period.
Mr. Ayube Bacchus responded that he was not aware of this.
Bacchus however, said that GPL is on top of the situation and is asking Berbicians for four more weeks of patience until the new transformer, which he said, weighs over 33 tonnes, is installed and put into operation.
“Consumers are being advised to bear with us as we have things in place to rectify the situation and we will replace the transformer and export or import power from the various locations”.
“Specialists came in to look at our infrastructure and see how fast they could replace this transformer”

 

CHRISTMAS
Bacchus said that the company is wrapping up its maintenance activities and preparing to face the high demand for power in December.
“This maintenance period will come to an end in mid-December and we have completed all our maintenance programmes, save for one unit at Canefield.”  He said that GPL has systems in place to cater for the increased load.
“We anticipate about 20MW peak demand during Christmas and we have approximately 22MW”.
As it stands, there have been 217 blackouts in Berbice since the year began; compared with 133 for the same period last year.

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