Record-breaking 8,000 new customers for GPL this year

Nov 29, 2012 News

…new Demerara River cable to be tested this weekend

Demand for power has been placing GPL under pressure with especially the new housing schemes that have been established.
According to Dindyal, this year the number of new customers for GPL will break records, reaching 8,000 new connections for the first time.

GPL’s CEO, Bharat Dindyal

Technicians, this weekend, are expected to energise a new cable across the Demerara River. This cable will vastly improve the electricity to West Bank and West Coast Demerara by providing a link with generating systems in the eastern part of the country.
The project is part of a US$42M Chinese-funded project that involves running new transmission lines, the construction of seven substations, a new control centre and the linking of Berbice and Demerara grid for the state-owned Guyana Power and Light Inc.(GPL).
The current cable link from the Garden of Eden power stations has been problematic and unable to meet the power demands of the West Demerara areas.
The cable had been vital because of the lack of capacity from the generators in Versailles and Leonora locations, on the West Coast of Demerara.
In recent years, there has been a spurt of new housing schemes in West Demerara area including at La Parfaite Harmonie, Canal Number One; Belle West, Canal Number Two; Tuschen and Cornelia Ida, among others.
Under the Chinese project, a new fibre optic cable running from GPL’s Kingston location to Vreed-en-Hoop, West Bank Demerara, will be able to substantially take increased loads.
Under the project, seven new substations will also be built across the coastlands. These include stations at Kingston, North Ruimveldt, Diamond, Vreed-en-Hoop, Edinburgh, and two on the East Coast of Demerara.
Some 25 new feeder lines to replace the old transmission lines across the coast, will also be a part of the project which was initially billed to cost US$33 million.
The current power lines, too, have been giving GPL workers major headaches especially when it rains. GPL has been blaming line losses to the feeder lines.
Just recently, the fragile nature of the lines was highlighted after a bird flew into some at Sophia, causing a shutdown.
According to GPL’s Chief Executive Officer, Bharat Dindyal, while initially the Chinese project was geared for certain targets, it has been expanded to allow the sub-stations to have more flexibility and separate sections of the grid to prevent total shutdowns in cases of faults.

File Photo: GPL will test a new power cable linking East and West Demerara as early as this weekend.

There is also good news for the long-suffering Berbice with a cable planned for across the river to link the Demerara country.
This will reduce the dependency on the Berbice engines, Dindyal said. Berbice has been dogged by blackouts in recent years.
Currently, a new power plant at Vreed-en-Hoop that will add another 26 megawatts from Wartsila engines is being constructed. This will help to further stabilize the power situation, the GPL boss said.