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Today Essequibo, tomorrow our turn for blackouts

Sep 03, 2018 News

 

– Jagdeo predicts

The East Coast, West Coast, Berbice and other parts of Guyana can very well experience the prolonged blackouts plaguing Essequibo. This is according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.
At his press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo told the media that he hoped President David Granger would have provided “clear answers to the blackout woes that the people in Essequibo are faced with now. We have had three different answers from three individuals. (Minister of Public Infrastructure David) Patterson said the engine already on Essequibo Coast, another Official from GPL said they (the generators) are on the way and the third said they are doing foundation work now.”
Jagdeo continued, “You think it is Essequibo alone. It is Essequibo now, but our turn will come in the interconnected grid that is the integrated system here, our turn will come.”
Jagdeo said he has been warning for some time that the “gen sets are pretty old.”
He noted that the government dispensed with the Wartsila management contract and has not brought in new generating capacity into the interconnecting system.
Jagdeo noted, “Hydro power should have brought in 160 megawatts of power into the interconnected system to allow us to cater for growth in demand and leave some reserve. They have not done any of that. The sets here are old and we are running very, very tight, so any major problem or even minor problem will result in the same situation you have on the Essequibo coast in the interconnected area, parts of West Coast, East coast and Berbice area.
The people of Essequibo have been protesting continuing outages last week.
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) had said it was rushing two generators to Essequibo coast.
But it later said “Due to unforeseen mechanical and electrical issues with three of our generation units, we are challenged to provide the required peak demand of 4.2 Megawatts. Currently, two units with an aggregate capacity of 1.5 MW are in operation at the Anna Regina power station. These units cannot satisfy the demand of the entire Coast and as such load shedding is in effect until additional generation becomes available,” GPL said in a statement yesterday. The power company said it is working with technical assistance from the equipment supplier, to mobilize additional generation by weekend to alleviate the prolonged service interruptions. “We remain cognizant of the inconvenience caused and seek the patience of our customers as we work to restore reliable power supply to the Coast.”
GPL had announced that it is building a new power plant to replace the aging engines at Anna Regina, but that will not be completed for a few months.

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