Work begins to bury GPL’s submarine cable in Demerara River

Oct 13, 2019 News

More than four months after the country’s critical power cable across the Demerara River was damaged, repairs have begun.

The ongoing repairs.

According to the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL), it has sourced the repair kit from China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC), the same contractor which has laid the cable in the first place and which had been engaged in conducting the repairs on the last four occasions it was damaged.
The damaged 69 kV submarine cable links the Vreed-en-Hoop, West Demerara, and Kingston sub-stations, in Georgetown.
The armour and insulation protection of the cable, which extends to the conductors was damaged at two locations in June and August by vessels traversing the Demerara River.
According to GPL, due to the extent of the damage, two repair kits had to be sourced from CMC.
“Repairs to the cable were delayed due to the discovery of the second damage in August, which required additional diagnosis and testing. Consequently, both kits were manufactured and shipped to Guyana.
“Following the arrival of the kits, the contractor, CMC immediately commenced work to retrieve and repair the compromised sections of the cable, approximately 0.7 and 0.8 km offshore the Kingston Power Plant.”
GPL said that upon completion, the cable will be re-energised to transfer power generated by the Vreed-en-Hoop Plant to supply the eastern section of the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS).
“Additionally, as a preventative measure, the cable will be reburied in the Demerara River to a depth of approximately 15 feet.
“As part of GPL’s contingency response to the damaged cable, a smaller 13.8 kV submarine cable was laid across the Demerara River in June, to transfer 5.5 Megawatt of power from the VEH Power Plant.”
The downing 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 unable to be shared to East Demerara and Berbice systems.
It had left thousands of consumers without power after scheduled blackouts were implemented.
Critics had blamed the poor laying of the cable on the river for the troubles.
Passing vessels with their anchors were said to have caused the damage.’

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