Power outages affected several parts of Guyana on Monday, as the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) continues to grapple with faults across the electricity network.
At a press conference this afternoon, GPL officials said an electrical fault at Kingston and another substation contributed to recent blackouts. The company also reported feeders tripping, disrupting electricity to customers in several areas.
Separate problems were reported across the network on Monday. GPL said emergency works at Houston caused an outage from the Ruimveldt Industrial Site to Nandy Park.
On the Essequibo Coast, a pole fire knocked out power to some communities, with restoration being carried out incrementally. And on the West Bank of Demerara, customers from Best to Vriesland faced a planned one-hour outage to facilitate work on the submarine cable beneath the Demerara River.
The disruptions come as GPL says it is investing approximately US$800 million to strengthen the country’s transmission and distribution network.
GPL’s Head of Engineering and Projects Ryan Ross said the programme will include new 230-kilovolt transmission lines, additional substations, 69-kilovolt lines and about 350 kilometres of medium-voltage distribution network.
GPL is also working towards a smart grid by 2030. Ross said the technology should eventually allow the company to see problems developing across the network in real time and respond more quickly to faults.
