By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News |
GOEDVERWAGTING, EAST COAST DEMERARA — In an effort to tackle mounting peak-load demands and chronic grid instability, the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) conducted an extensive media tour of its ongoing capital infrastructure works along the East Coast of Demerara, showcasing critical substation construction and high-voltage transmission expansions engineered to absorb power from the 300 MW Gas-to-Energy (GtE) project.
Led by executive management, the guided tour highlighted key components of the power company’s overarching US$422.2 million transmission and distribution overhaul, which aims to modernize the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) through redundant switching stations, expanded voltage corridors, and new transmission interconnections across Regions Four, Five, and Six.
Goedverwagting Substation: Bulk Power Gateway for Gas-to-Energy
Central to the field inspection was the soon-to-be-commissioned Goedverwagting Substation, designed as a major strategic load center connecting urban Georgetown to the East Bank corridor:
- Voltage Step-Down and Interconnection: The facility is engineered to receive bulk power transmitted across the Demerara River corridor from the 300 MW Wales Gas-to-Energy plant, stepping down high-voltage supply to 69,000 volts (69 kV) for direct integration into the national DBIS grid.
- Feeder Redundancy: Multiple distribution feeders originate from Goedverwagting to supply power to expanding residential schemes and commercial zones stretching from New Georgetown outward toward Diamond.
“It will now bring it down at 69 [kV] and connect to other… DBIS system [nodes],” explained GPL Chief Executive Officer Kesh Nandlall, pointing to the facility’s ability to seamlessly interface with existing 69 kV substations while creating backup feeder pathways.
East Coast Transmission Corridor: Clearing the Railway Embankment
Accompanied by media representatives along the newly cleared infrastructure corridor between Goedverwagting and Mahaica—constructed in coordination with the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA)—GPL Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Strategic Operations Bharat Harjohn outlined the structural reconfiguration of East Coast power lines:
- 69 kV Monopole Infrastructure: Heavy-duty steel monopole structures are being erected along the new bypass highway, creating a modern 69 kV transmission circuit that reroutes power from New Georgetown through Goedverwagting and Good Hope directly into the upgraded Columbia Substation.
- Decommissioning Legacy Lines: Once the modern monopole circuit is energized, GPL will decommission and dismantle the aging overhead transmission lines currently running along the Railway Embankment.
- Unlocking Road Expansion: Removing the legacy lines resolves a major civil engineering hurdle, clearing critical right-of-way corridors where existing wooden poles and low-hanging conductors had stalled national road widening and railway development works.
“On this side here you see the 69 [kV] monopole structure… then to Columbia,” Harjohn demonstrated during the site inspection, underscoring that the new corridor provides both higher carrying capacity and structural resilience against adverse weather.
Extending the 230 kV Backbone to Berbice
Beyond the East Coast corridor, GPL’s strategic capital roadmap incorporates the construction of a heavy 230-kilovolt (230 kV) backbone, designed to transport high-volume electricity efficiently across longer distances with minimal line losses:
- Region Five Integration: The 230 kV line will transmit bulk energy eastward into the Mahaica-Berbice district, anchoring into a newly developed substation at Trafalgar.
- Interconnecting to Corentyne: From Trafalgar, the supply will interface with the existing network through secondary 69 kV lines and push further east into Williamsburg, Region Six, establishing full dual-circuit redundancy from West Demerara through to the Corentyne Coast.
GPL executives stressed that completing these substation nodes and clearing transmission bottlenecks are vital precursors to ensuring the national grid can reliably dispatch power when initial generation units from the Wales plant begin feeding into the network.
