GPL uncertain of a blackout-free Christmas

Dec 20, 2016 News

---

Over the past few days, there has been much discourse over the spate of power outages being experienced in several communities throughout the country. This has resulted in many residents turning to available fora venting their

frustration at the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).
Questions were raised about the Company’s ability to provide a reliable service during the festive season.
During a press conference yesterday, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) – Technical, Elwyn Marshall, said that some of the setbacks occurred over the past few days and the company went about rectifying these issues.
When quizzed on whether he can assure the public that these setbacks do not occur again, Marshall said I am not “going to put my head on a block.”
He added that the company is not a 100 percent, and he places faith in the intensified maintenance exercises that have already commenced.
Marshall explained that GPL usually conducts regular maintenance on the feeders. “Just before the Christmas season we intensified this programme …Do inspections, deal with vegetation and try to have the network in a condition that would not present faults.”
The recent blackouts
The DCEO said that since last week, there has been a fair amount of unexpected and so far, “unexplained” series of outages within the Demerara/Berbice System.
The DCEO said that on Tuesday night at around 20:30hrs, one of the feeders coming out of the Kingston Power Plant experienced a conductor failure which had burnt off and fell across another line that was being fed out of Sophia.
As a result of this, the line linking the Kingston/Sophia substations tripped and led to a total outage in the system, he said.
The repairs took GPL almost three hours to restore the system to normalcy – a duration which he admitted, was longer than usual. He explained that there are times during the process of restoring the system that additional problems occur resulting in a second collapse.
On Friday last, there was a failed insulator on the feeder that feeds Alberttown, Queenstown and several areas along Thomas Road.
“Because of the failure of the insulator, the cross arm caught fire and the conductor ended up shorting out. GPL provided alternative feed from another feeder so that the (Georgetown Public) Hospital and a large portion of the aforementioned areas were supplied with power whilst repairs were being carried out on the defective conductor,”
On Saturday, two of the three feeders coming out of the Kingston Two plant which feeds the commercial district, became entangled. One of the feeders encountered a burnt jumper and a switch.
“What seemed to have happed is fault on the circuit and the heavy current in the conductor…Because of the entanglement of the conductors in the Kingston area resulted in the Kingston Plant tripping out due to overload. It took us a while to sort out that problem.”
On Sunday, there was a total outage. The DCEO said that a power transformer at Kingston – which converts the powers that comes from the generators – tripped and resulted in a total outage.
“While in the process of bringing back the system, the cubicle at Kingston One Plant which has the switch gear for two of the four generators, suffered from an insulation failure which resulted to sufficient damage,” he said.
GPL was forced to take the generator out of service and the three remaining cubicles were disconnected to facilitate the cleaning of the damaged cable.
The DCEO said that since the system was brought to normalcy, there have not been any “major” outages within the system.
GPL and its striking workers
The press conference was held hours after more than 30 workers took industrial action against the Power Company reportedly calling for increased wages and salaries for 2016.
These workers are reportedly transmission and distribution workers.
CEO of the company, Renford Homer, said that it was not a strike.
He explained that GPL is currently negotiating with the Trade Unions that represent their workers, particularly the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) with wages and salaries for 2016.
He added that management had made some proposals which were refused by the Union.
GPL further improved its offer but this was once again, refused by the Union which in turn took a stronger position. This resulted in a stalemate between the Union and management.
Homer said that this caused some concern amongst the workers –since they would have had high expectations of seeing something coming to them by way of improved wages. This he added, led to some agitation.
The parties are scheduled to meet this morning to continue negotiations. Homer said that he is hopeful that the issues can be resolved.
“Management has also made a request to the workers to return to work and wait the outcome of the meeting.”

---

---