Another major shutdown for GPL; contractor involvement suspected

A Guyana Power & Light (GPL) Facebook post advised Sunday that at approximately 16:29h, the L4 and L2 Transmission Lines, which link the Golden Grove and Sophia Substations, tripped simultaneously, resulting in a system disturbance that affected several feeders in Demerara and Berbice.
According to GPL, teams were immediately deployed to conduct line inspections and initiate restoration efforts. During these inspections, a burst fibre optic cable was discovered at Buzz Bee Dam, Craig, East Bank Demerara.
The utility company’s preliminary assessments suggested that the cable came into contact with the magnetic field of the transmission lines, triggering the outage. The nature of the damage indicated that heavy-duty machinery or equipment could have been involved.
Substantial infrastructural works are being conducted in the area, and efforts to identify the contractor are ongoing as the individuals involved in works have already left the location, it added.
The company later advised that restoration began at 16:53h with the final affected area re-powered at 18:12h.
GPL Inc. also took the opportunity to urge all contractors to exercise extreme caution when operating near its network infrastructure and reiterated that any infrastructural work being done within 20 feet of our network must be reported to GPL at least 72 hours before commencement of works.
Failure to comply will result in punitive measures instituted against contractors, since these actions cause major inconveniences to our valued customers, damage to property and equipment, it stated.