The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has attributed two recent major electricity disruptions to a combination of faults at critical points on the national grid and increasing pressure on its transmission and distribution infrastructure, as electricity demand continues to climb across the country.
The utility made the disclosure on Monday during a press briefing convened to address growing concerns over the recent widespread outages and to provide an update on the condition of the national electricity system. GPL Chief Executive Officer Kesh Nandlall said that although the country currently has sufficient generation capacity to meet peak demand, the distribution network is facing increasing pressure, particularly during the evening hours.
Nandlall explained that electricity consumption generally reaches its highest point between 19:00h and 21:00h, when households and businesses make greater use of air-conditioning and other electrical appliances. The effects of prolonged hot weather have also contributed to higher consumption, placing additional strain on feeders, transformers and other components of the distribution system.
“The reality is that the distribution system is now facing challenges. That is, feeders are now being overloaded. Transformers are being taxed and overloaded. Some people get voltage fluctuations,” Nandlall explained.
He said several feeders across the network are now approaching or exceeding their normal operating limits. When the electrical load on a feeder reaches a level that could cause damage to conductors, lines or associated equipment, the protection system automatically disconnects the feeder. While the mechanism is designed to protect the network from more serious damage, it can also result in customers supplied by the affected feeder losing electricity.
GPL is therefore considering a number of measures to better distribute electricity across the network and reduce the burden on heavily loaded sections. One option involves transferring some customers from overloaded feeders to nearby feeders that still have available capacity. In other areas, sections of the network could be temporarily removed from a feeder so that a problem affecting one portion does not result in a wider interruption for all customers connected to that feeder.
Nandlall said the increasing pressure on the distribution system is partly the result of the rapid growth in GPL’s customer base over the past several years. According to him, the number of customers connected to the utility has increased from 201,791 in 2020 to approximately 250,000 in 2026. At the same time, existing customers are consuming considerably more electricity than they did previously, creating a dual challenge for the utility.
“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 explained that transformers serving residential communities are normally selected according to the expected electricity requirements of the homes and businesses in a particular area. However, the level of consumption can change considerably over time. A transformer that was adequate when a neighbourhood was first developed could become heavily loaded if households subsequently install additional air-conditioning units, electric appliances and other equipment that significantly increases their electricity usage.
The utility does not yet have a comprehensive smart monitoring system capable of immediately identifying substantial increases in individual customers’ electricity consumption. Nandlall said GPL is working towards introducing such technology, which would give the company greater visibility into changes in electricity demand and allow it to identify potential problems before they develop into major disruptions.
In the meantime, customers who intend to significantly increase their electricity consumption are being encouraged to inform GPL. Nandlall said this would enable the utility to determine whether existing infrastructure can accommodate the additional demand and, where necessary, make plans to strengthen the network or install additional equipment.
Despite the challenges being experienced on the distribution side, Nandlall stressed that GPL has significantly increased its generation capacity since 2020. He said the company has added approximately 230 megawatts of generating capacity during the period, including capacity from solar photovoltaic facilities and other generating sources.
GPL currently has 265.6 megawatts of generation capacity available, with another five megawatts expected to be added by Wednesday. Once that capacity is brought online, total available generation is expected to reach approximately 270 megawatts, compared with current peak demand averaging between 250 and 255 megawatts.
“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.”
The figures indicate that while additional generation remains important as electricity consumption continues to rise, the immediate challenges affecting reliability are also closely connected to the ability of the existing transmission and distribution infrastructure to safely carry and deliver the available electricity.
GPL Deputy Chief Executive Officer responsible for strategic operations, Bharat Harjohn, provided further details on the technical circumstances surrounding the recent widespread disturbances. He identified the Kingston-Vreed-en-Hoop corridor as a particularly important section of the national electricity network because of the volume of generation that passes through the area.
Harjohn said the two power plants located at Kingston and Vreed-en-Hoop collectively account for approximately 30 per cent of the generation required to meet peak demand. This makes the corridor particularly important to the stability of the national system.
“Between the two power plants at Kingston and Vreed-en-Hoop, we have about 30 per cent of the generation that we need to meet our peak demand,” Harjohn said.
He explained that one of the recent major outages began after a transformer at the Kingston substation developed a fault, causing the protection system to activate. Once the protection mechanism operated, generation could no longer be exported from the affected substation in the normal manner. The generating units subsequently shut down as a protective measure, contributing to a wider system collapse.
The restoration process was made more difficult by repeated trips at the Garden of Eden generating facility as GPL technicians attempted to bring generating units back online and progressively re-energise sections of the national grid. As the restoration process continued, some consumers experienced electricity being restored and interrupted repeatedly.
Harjohn said technical personnel subsequently returned to the Garden of Eden facility and reported improvements in the plant’s performance during later restoration efforts.
A second major disturbance occurred on Monday morning and was again associated with the Kingston-Vreed-en-Hoop corridor. Engineers detected a significant spike in current on the submarine cable connecting the two locations, after which transformers at both Vreed-en-Hoop and Kingston tripped.
The protective systems responded to the abnormal conditions, resulting in another widespread interruption of electricity supply. GPL said investigations are continuing to establish the precise cause of the current spike and the simultaneous transformer trips.
Harjohn also pointed to the configuration of the existing electricity grid as another factor that can magnify the impact of faults. He explained that significant portions of GPL’s network operate as radial circuits, meaning that electricity does not always have alternative routes through which it can be redirected when a major component develops a fault.
“So, when a fall develops at the at the critical juncture, especially the substation, it affects the system, and it’s because of our system is designed is more of a radial circuit. It doesn’t have the motor going circuit or redundancy,” he explained.
To address these weaknesses, GPL is implementing a major infrastructure investment programme estimated at approximately US$800 million. The programme is aimed at modernising the transmission and distribution network while increasing its capacity to accommodate the country’s growing electricity requirements.
Ryan Ross, Head of GPL’s Engineering and Projects Department, said the programme includes new 230-kilovolt transmission lines, additional substations, expanded 69-kilovolt transmission infrastructure and approximately 350 kilometres of new medium-voltage distribution network.
The projects are also expected to replace critical sections of infrastructure that have been in service for decades, including components dating back to the 1970s. Ross said the expansion of the medium-voltage network is particularly important because it is intended to address some of the immediate problems associated with overloaded feeders.
“We’re doing more substations. We’re doing 69 kV lines, which is an extension of the sub transmission system that we currently have. But very importantly, we’re also building out approximately 350 kilometres of distribution network, medium voltage network, that will address the immediate problems that Bharat referenced with overloading of feeders. So, we’re doing it a much higher specification,” he said.
Ross said the infrastructure programme is also being developed alongside Guyana’s wider energy transformation, including the Government’s Gas-to-Energy initiative. GPL is simultaneously preparing for the introduction of a smarter electricity network, with the utility expected to implement a smart grid by 2030.
The smart grid programme is intended to give GPL much greater visibility into the performance of the electricity system. New transmission lines, substations and other infrastructure are being designed with monitoring and control capabilities that will allow the company to identify faults, track demand and respond to problems in real time.
“With everything that we do now, we need to have visibility as to what is happening, where it is happening, what are the projected demands, and so on and so forth. And we need to do this without the human element, without somebody picking up the phone and tell us there’s an issue here. Rather, we can detect it either before it happens or immediately when it happens in real time.”
The investment comes as electricity demand continues to rise alongside Guyana’s economic expansion, population growth and increasing use of electrical appliances. GPL said that strengthening the network is therefore just as important as adding new generating capacity if the country is to achieve a more reliable electricity supply.
Nandlall also addressed concerns about electricity costs, stressing that GPL has not increased its electricity rates since 2020 despite significant increases in fuel prices during the period. He said the utility has absorbed higher fuel costs, while Government intervention has also contributed to keeping electricity rates stable.
According to Nandlall, customers who have noticed higher electricity bills should not necessarily interpret those increases as a rise in the electricity tariff. Instead, he said, increased consumption is a major factor behind higher bills, particularly as households and businesses use more air-conditioning and other electricity-intensive equipment.
GPL currently has several projects under construction as it continues efforts to increase generation, reinforce transmission infrastructure and expand the distribution network. The company is also examining additional generation options to ensure that available capacity keeps pace with future demand.
With Guyana’s electricity consumption expected to continue increasing, GPL’s ongoing investment programme is expected to focus increasingly on strengthening the network between power plants and consumers. The utility is seeking to reduce the vulnerability of the system to overloaded feeders, transformer failures and faults at critical substations while introducing greater redundancy and real-time monitoring.
The company has maintained that the recent outages highlight the need for continued investment across the entire electricity system. While additional generation will remain essential, GPL said the country must also expand and modernise the infrastructure responsible for transmitting and distributing that electricity if the reliability of the national grid is to improve as demand continues to grow.