The Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) has announced that its 46.5MW Power Plant at Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara (EBD) had to be taken offline to undergo immediate mechanical inspection.
The company said the unavailability of 46.5MW of power will impact the available generation capacity within the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) and result in load shedding in some areas.
On Friday, affected areas on the EBD are Garden of Eden to Timehri, on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD) from Leonora to DeKendren, and on the East Bank of Essequibo (EBE) from Boerasiria to Naamryck from 18:00h to 22:00h.
GPL says its engineers will continue to review the company’s available generation capacity against the projected demand over the coming days to determine whether further load shedding will be required.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar, when contacted, explained there were some technical problems with the engines that could result in explosions.
“So they had to shut them down,” he noted.
“It’s a matter of safety because if that thing explodes, you’ll have issues…so it’s better you shut it down and fix it and then see to bring it up back,” the Minister added.
The Public Works Minister also noted that with these engines down, there will be some strain on the DBIS.
“You’re taking off 46.5MW off of the grid, so it will have an impact but we’re trying to make sure we minimise it as far as we can,” he assured.
In the meanwhile, the old plant at the Garden of Eden location will be put into use. That plant has a generating capacity of some 25MW.
