Guyana geared for load shedding between now and year's end
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| Published on Thursday, October 23, 2008 |
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By Oscar Ramjeet
Caribbean Net News Special Correspondent
Email: oscar@caribbeannetnews.com
GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Residents of Guyana will experience black-outs (load shedding) from now until the rest of the year.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Bharat Dindyal said that the present demand for electricity has reached the peak experienced during the Christmas season.
The Kaieteur News reported that Dindyal said, "We are now faced with Christmas; what happens every year from about mid-September to December is that there is a marked increase on the demand. Our demand this year has exceeded our peak last year, which is what is seen around Christmas time."
Dindyal added that the GPL was working to finish the maintenance of equipment before the holiday season.
"We are seeing demands very close to 70 megawatts and this is not during the peak. What has happened is that while we are trying to finish our maintenance for Christmas, we are caught with this heavy demand and an unexpected level sustained both day and night.
He explained that this increased demand has placed the company in a very difficult position.
Recently, he said, the company took off one of its engines in Demerara for a major overhaul and upgrade, but was forced to do only the overhaul because of the demand for electricity.
“We do not have scheduled load shedding, but we get very close to putting everything on line when we have a demand of 70 megawatts. When it passes 70 megawatts there is nothing more we have to put on line," Dindyal explained.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds said that he hoped that the company would be able to manage the "tight" situation until next June when some new 20 megawatt HFO diesel engines will be installed at Kingston, Georgetown. | | | | Reads : 987 | | | |
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