GPL said rising electricity demand is placing increased pressure on the national distribution network and contributing to recent power outages, the company announced at a press conference on Monday. The press conference was held at the power company's head office in Kingston, Georgetown.
Peak demand last year was 221 megawatts, while recent peak demand is approximately 257 megawatts. The company noted that the highest demand is generally recorded between 7pm and 9pm.
GPL's customer base was approximately 201,000 in 2020 and is about 250,000 currently. The company has increased its generation capacity by roughly 230 megawatts since 2020 and now has 265.6 megawatts available, with an additional five megawatts expected by Wednesday.
The recent major shutdowns originated at the Kingston Substation. A fault on a main transformer contributed to Saturday night's outage. The cause of Monday morning's disturbance remains under investigation.
GPL is currently undertaking projects worth approximately US$800 million, including about 350 kilometres of additional distribution network. GPL identified Ryan Ross as Head of Engineering on Projects. GPL identified Kesh Nandlall as Team Leader of its Executive Management Committee.
