Site preparation ongoing for the arrival of power ship in Region Six

Significant site preparations are currently underway in Everton, East Bank Berbice, Region Six, in anticipation of the arrival of a power ship that the government has secured.

The ship, expected to provide an additional 35 megawatts of electricity to the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) national grid, aims to address a generation shortfall resulting from a significant increase in the demand for electricity in the country.

Zone Manager of the GPL Berbice location, Ravindra Jagnandan, visited the site on Tuesday to oversee ongoing preparatory works.

In a recent televised interview, Jagnandan explained that major land clearing and installation of utility poles are in progress.

“Firstly, what we are doing now to accommodate the ship, is land-clearing and vegetation management. We also have to build a network to connect the power barge to our network at GPL.

“The ship will be dispatching 69,000 kilovolts and so we have to construct a new transmission line for us to connect and dispatch power from the ship to our grid,” he elaborated.

Currently, the GPL Berbice team is preparing to set up the transmission lines at Everton.

Jagnandan further explained that to access electricity from the power ship to the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS), they will tap into GPL’s existing L21 transmission line.

“Having the electricity at that voltage level (69,000 kilovolts), then we will be able to access power from the ship at our various load centres across Berbice and Demerara,” the manager noted.

He emphasised that the team is working diligently to complete the preparations and conclude the network construction and maintenance on the lines as early as possible before the ship’s arrival.

Jagnandan highlighted that the country is currently experiencing frequent power outages due to a deficit between GPL’s generating capacity and the country’s growing electrical demand.

Therefore, the arrival of this ship will form the basis of a proactive approach by the government to help minimize current disruptions.

The power ship is being sourced from Cuba and is expected to arrive in the country this month.