An explosion at the Guyana Power and Light Inc.’s (GPL) Good Hope Substation around 12:04 hrs on Saturday forced the facility offline and caused a system disturbance that left several areas without electricity.
GPL said an initial investigation found smoke emanating from the main breaker panel in the substation’s switchgear room.
The Good Hope Substation is one of GPL’s main substations and serves as an interconnection point with the Sophia and Columbia substations, enabling power transfer between Demerara and Berbice.
With Good Hope going offline, the company said instability developed on the grid, resulting in several other feeders going offline as well.
GPL reported that incremental restoration began immediately, and by about 13:10 hrs power had been restored to affected areas, except for customers from Success to Hope on the East Coast of Demerara.
The utility said efforts are continuing to repower customers in the Success-to-Hope corridor using alternative sources while remedial work is planned for the Good Hope Substation.
A technical team of engineers and technicians has been assigned to conduct a detailed assessment of the damage. GPL said the necessary corrective works will be carried out once that assessment is completed.
As a temporary measure, GPL also said its mobile substation is en route to the Good Hope Substation to support restoration until permanent repairs are completed.
