Latest update May 10th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 25, 2013 News
A transmission upgrade complete with seven new substations catering to the national electricity grid is expected to be completed by this yearend or at the latest at the beginning of next year.
At least this is according to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds who during a recent press briefing disclosed that these developmental works will address one of the problems linked to technical losses faced by the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL).
And according to the Prime Minister too, there is still the distribution network which probably needs a doubling-up to reduce technical losses.
His comments were forthcoming in wake of accusations from the Alliance For Change (AFC) which recently amplified the losses of the power company and suggested that this has been one of the reasons the company is a liability to the nation.
But according to a very vocal Hinds, losses are currently about 31 per cent even as he pointed out that there was a time when these were over 40 per cent. He underscored that there will always be some technical losses for current to flow.
At the moment he noted that “our system is highly overloaded and the technical losses are expected to be high because our transmission/distribution network needs to be doubled-up…”
But according to the Prime Minister “we have not had the investment that we should have had to keep it going. It is not just a one way thing…it takes a lot of money to do these investments…the net effect may not be that much but it does compromise quality.”
As part of the proposed upgrade of the transmission network, Hinds said that there are plans to end the 50 cycle operations in the Georgetown area.
At the moment there exists dual cycle systems in the city, which according to the Prime Minister, creates its own sets of losses which sometimes estimate at about two or three per cent of the total losses. However, he noted that the first quarter of this year has seen the power company well along the way to end the 50 cycle system and the transmission upgrade, two projects that have been the source of some of the increased scheduled outages over the last few months.
As owner of the power company, Hinds said, Government through the national budget had allocated $10.2 billion to aid the upgrade of the electricity system, a sum which was slashed by just over half by the parliamentary opposition during considerations of the estimates in the National Assembly.
According to Hinds, this year Government has plans to put in place a 26-megawatt generating station at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, to replace an older plant at Versailles, West Bank Demerara. He insisted, too, that all monies directed to the power company are utilised properly. “We are trying to stay ahead of the growing demands and also making some gains in improving the quality of service.”
The Prime Minister has made an earnest call to the Parliamentary Opposition to reconsider the cuts imposed against the GPL budgetary allocation. Speaking of the cuts to the allocation, Hinds noted that “it leaves me and the Government perturbed, disturbed and bewildered as to what to do…Money is required,” asserted the Prime Minister as he lamented the budgetary cut insisting that “oil in these days run about 70 per cent of the costs and maybe most of the costs of producing electricity.”
Foreign sourced items including oil, insulator, transformers and conductors are known to drive up the costs of providing electricity to about 85 to 90 per cent, disclosed Hinds even as he insisted that Government has been seeking to lower the price of electricity nationwide.
In the short term though, he noted, that there are programmes coming mainly out of the Guyana Energy Agency to more thoughtfully and carefully use electricity so that “we can try to get by within our budgets and not lose much quality of life in doing so…but for the longer run we are working to develop the Amaila (Falls hydro project),” said the Prime Minister.
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