GPL’s generation capacity intact but load shedding to continue – Dindyal
The industrial action at the Skeldon Sugar Plant which supplies some 15 Mega Watts (MW) of electricity to the national
electricity grid, has subsided coupled with the fact that the malfunctioning Wartsila Plant in Kingston is back up, supplying another 36MW, but this does not mean that the load shedding being experienced will become a thing of the past anytime soon.
This was confirmed by Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Power and Light Company, Bharrat Dindyal, who in a brief interview with this publication said that while there is still another generating plant in need of repairs, the main disruptions have been sorted out.
He explained that the Skeldon co-generation plant supplies the grid with about 15 MW while the downed Wartsila plant supplied another 36 MW. Both went down at the same time.
According to Dindyal, the Demerara and Berbice grids consume a peak total of about 101MW while the company’s total generation capacity is an average of 106MW.
This meant that the loss of some 51MW from the grid posed a significant problem.
But Dindyal says that the fact that the generation capacity problems have more or less been resolved does not mean that load shedding will be ceased in the immediate future or any time soon.
He explained that a significant reason why load shedding has to be initiated has to do with the deficiencies in the Transmission and Distribution facilities which will continue to pose a problem until rectified.
He said that load shedding will have to be facilitated as critical repairs are effected to affected areas but noted that the power company is expected to be back up by today, generating electricity to meet the peak demand.
Strikes at the Skeldon Sugar Factory in recent days, have, along with the shut-down of the Wartsila Plant in Kingston led to a number of scheduled load sheddings by the power company.
The power company reported this past week that it was forced to institute scheduled load shedding as a result of the failure of the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo) Skeldon Sugar Factory’s cogeneration plant to supply the grid with electricity along with the failure of a turbo charger at one of its Warstila plants in Kingston.
According to the power company, its generation capacity in the Demerara and Berbice Integrated System (DBIS) was significantly reduced since Sunday last, due to a shortfall in expected imported energy from GuySuCo, Skeldon, and the failure of the turbo charger on GPL’s No.3 Wartsila set located at Kingston, Georgetown.
According to the power company, it was unfortunate that the two incidents arose at a time when the No.1 Wartsila generator at the Kingston plant was undergoing a major overhaul.