Repairs commence on damaged 69KV submarine cable

Dec 14, 2020 News

The damaged submarine cable.

Kaieteur News – According to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), repair commenced yesterday on their 69KV submarine cable 69 Kilovolts (kV) submarine cable link between the Vreed-en-Hoop (VEH) and Kingston Substations, after it was reported as being severed some two weeks ago.
GPL indicated in a statement to the press that repair technicians visited the site on Saturday to execute preliminary inspections, with the substantive repair works commencing yesterday. According to the state-run agency, the repairing exercise is slated to be completed on or before Christmas.
This submarine cable was part of a US$40M project to build new transmission lines, seven new sub-stations and two submarine cables– one each across the Demerara River and Berbice River. In June and August of 2019, this cable had sustained damage at two locations by the anchors of vessels traversing the Demerara River.
The crippling of that submarine cable had left the inter-connected Demerara and Berbice system shaky, as almost 15 megawatts of power available in the West Demerara area was unable to be shared to East Demerara and Berbice systems. It had left thousands of consumers without power after scheduled blackouts were implemented, as critics had blamed the poor laying of the cable on the river for the troubles.
Against this and the cable’s most recent severing, GPL this month had hosted a meeting with the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) on measures to prevent a third occurrence of vessels damaging the 69kV cable.

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