Chinese manufacturers being flown in to repair GPL submarine cable

– ships to be blocked from entering area

By Jarryl Bryan

Consultants from China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC), which laid the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) 69 kV submarine cable that is now damaged and inoperable, are expected to arrive in Guyana this week.

This is according to Minister within the Public Works Ministry Deodat Indar, who was asked by this publication for an update on the cable. He explained that the consultants are expected to leave China on Wednesday to come to Guyana for what he described as a very technical job.
“That cable, for you to repair it is a very technical job. We have to bring in consultants from China, from the manufacturers to do that job. They should leave on Wednesday to come to Guyana. In light of COVID, they had to get vaccines to come to Guyana,” Indar said.
“They told me as soon as they start, they’re looking at two weeks to repair that cable. But it’s a completely severed cable. We have to get subsea divers to go on the river bed. It’s a very technical job,” he explained.

In the meantime, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) has been tasked with ensuring that a buffer zone is kept to ensure ships stay far away from the cable. He acknowledged that anchoring is a problem where the cables are concerned. He also explained that there is another, smaller 13.9 kV line that they will have to take steps to protect.
“We put some very strict systems in place with MARAD, in terms of having ships anchor in area C in the Demerara River, which is an anchor area which is where line six comes from, Vreed-En-Hoop to Kingston. So MARAD has been instructed not to have any ships anchor in that vicinity. And they will be putting additional processes in place for monitoring.”
“So, if any ships go there without permission, they will be moved away quickly. So, no anchoring will be happening in that area. But there’s also another line, which is the 13.9 kV line that we have to also protect. So, it’s not just the big one that brings over baseload power. The 69 kV cable is the one that was severed. So, we have to protect that one too,” he explained.
The 69 kV cable was recently damaged by a vessel in the Demerara River, following which GPL had announced that while the best option would be to rebury the cable at a suitable depth, the necessary dredging equipment would have to be sourced.
GPL had nevertheless explained that a meeting was held with MARAD and a number of “Measures to Prevent Reoccurrence of Vessels Damaging GPL’s 69kV Submarine Cable”, short-term preventative steps that can be immediately implemented, were agreed upon.
The steps include creating an additional 200-metre buffer zone on either side of the cable crossing, the details of which will be published to Mariners. Additionally, MARAD agreed to reinforce bridge watches, which will see vessels at assigned mooring points having an officer on watch.
Last year, GPL had to conduct remedial works on the 69 kV submarine cable, after the armour and insulation protection of the cable, which extends to the conductors, was damaged at two locations in June and August 2019 by vessels traversing the Demerara River.
The 69 kV cable, which rests along the upper Demerara River within proximity of Craig, East Bank Demerara, was dislodged by a barge sailing along the Demerara River in June.
Due to the extent of the damages, two repair kits had to be sourced from CMC, the company that first laid the cable in 2012.