Power grid under strain as evening demand surges – GPL

…says overloaded feeders driving power outages

Guyana Power and Light (GPL) on Monday said overloaded distribution feeders and transformers, along with faults at critical substations, were among the probable causes of two recent major power outages.
Chief Executive Officer Kesh Nandlall, who convened a press briefing to address concerns surrounding the outages, revealed that the country’s electricity distribution system is coming under increasing pressure, particularly during the evening peak between 19:00h and 21:00h, when electricity consumption increases amid the effects of El Niño.
Nandlall noted that GPL has replaced approximately 5,000 transformers over the past few years as part of efforts to strengthen the distribution network, while further investments continue to be made in the electricity sector.
The official explained that when a feeder reaches its normal operating limit and demand continues to rise, the protection system is activated to prevent major damage to the conductor and line hardware. This results in the affected feeder being automatically tripped.
According to GPL, a number of its feeders are currently tripping due to overloading conditions, prompting the utility to explore measures to reduce the strain on the network.
Among the strategies being considered is the transfer of some customers from heavily loaded feeders to other feeders with available capacity. In other areas, sections of the network may have to be temporarily taken off a feeder to prevent disruptions from affecting all customers supplied by that feeder.
Nandlall reported significant growth in its customer base between 2020 and 2026, further contributing to the increasing demand placed on the electricity distribution system.
“We have grown from 201,791 to 250,000 customers. I want to stress there’s been a significant increase in the current customers and how they consume, plus the addition of new customers. Now, and we have said this before, there are a lot of customers that are increasing their load and they’re not applying for that increase,” Nandlall said.
He also explained that transformers are designed according to the expected electricity load of the homes they serve. When a street is developed, one or two transformers of particular sizes are installed to provide the required load for those homes.
However, if every household on the street were to double its electricity load, the transformers could become overloaded.
The official noted that the utility would not necessarily know when customers have significantly increased their electricity consumption because it does not yet have a smart system in place to monitor such changes. However, he said the company is working towards implementing such a system.
In the meantime, customers who are increasing their electricity load are being encouraged to notify GPL. He said this would allow the company to facilitate the increased demand while building the necessary infrastructure to prevent overloading and other related problems.

Increased capacity
Despite the growth in electricity demand, Nandlall said GPL has also increased its generating capacity significantly since 2020.
“So we have the growth. While we added those customers, we have increased our generating capacity from 2020 to 2026 by 230 megawatts, right? 230, including solar PV and farm generating capacity. So we have kept increasing the generation as well. We also have an investment plan, which we will discuss with you, what we are doing in the near future, in the medium term, longer term, and how we’re going to be dealing with this growth.”
Nandlall said GPL currently has 265.6 megawatts of generation capacity available, with an additional five megawatts expected to be added by Wednesday, bringing the available capacity to approximately 270 megawatts.
He said peak electricity demand is currently averaging between 250 and 255 megawatts, while the utility is also exploring additional generation options.
“We are seeing the peak averaging around 255, 250 to 255, right? So the generation is currently there, and we are also looking at additional generation options right now. So I also wanted to provide that update. As you are aware, the Government is invested in the Gas-to-Energy programme.”
Meanwhile, Nandlall stressed that GPL has not increased electricity rates since 2020, despite increases in fuel prices during the period.
He explained that the utility has absorbed increases in fuel prices, while Government intervention has helped to keep electricity rates stable.
According to Nandlall, any increases customers may have noticed in their electricity bills are primarily linked to increased consumption rather than an increase in electricity rates.
He added that GPL currently has a number of projects under construction as the utility continues to expand and strengthen its infrastructure.