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Chinese engineer to face court as GPL counts blackout losses
(Kaieteur News) – The Government is preparing to take legal action against the Chinese engineer responsible for last Sunday’s nationwide blackout, as damage to critical infrastructure at the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Garden of Eden power plant and widespread losses continue to be assessed, Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation Deodat Indar said on Monday.
Speaking with Kaieteur News on the sidelines of a public consultation to discuss government’s efforts to reduce shipping costs, Indar said the incident, occurred after equipment operated by the China Railway First Group struck a 69,000-volt transmission line, left most of the country without power for approximately four and a half hours and exposed vulnerabilities in the national grid during restoration efforts.
The machine used by China Railway First Group that caused the damage to the transmission line on Dennis Street, Georgetown.
According to the minister, attempts to restore electricity around 11:30 hours were unsuccessful due to instability in the system. “The frequency of the grid was fluctuating… that is why when they started around 11:30 to restore, they had another shutdown because the frequency was not balanced,” he explained. He added that the incident damaged a key switchgear at the Garden of Eden plant, which prevented power from being fed back into the grid and prolonged outages, particularly along the East Bank corridor, where some customers remained without electricity until about 16:15 hrs.
“Damages occurred to the Garden of Eden plant, loss of time… they are doing the calculations now for the losses and they will take that to court,” Indar said, noting that the contractor did not have permission from GPL to operate in the area near the transmission line.
An engineer attached to the China Railway First Group was arrested following the incident, which occurred during road expansion works at Dennis Street, Sophia. GPL had earlier warned that contact with electrical infrastructure poses serious risks, not only disrupting service but also endangering lives. The utility said the transmission line links its New Georgetown and Sophia substations and tripped after being struck by heavy equipment. The Guyana Police Force has since launched an investigation and the engineer has been arrested.
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