Several machines were taken out of service as a result, and major repairs are being carried out on the defective generating sets. The power company said in a release that it expects the situation to return to normal over the weekend.

According to the release, the Kingston steam power plant was removed from service to facilitate urgent repairs to a leaking high-pressure steam valve and gland. The damaged valve controls the flow of superheated steam to the turbines, and it could be only repaired following a complete station shutdown.

"This exercise has since been completed and full capacity restored to that station," GPL stated.

"The Demerara Power Company (DemPoCo), which operates plants at Garden of Eden and Kingston for GPL, was reduced last week to generating with only four of the eight sets normally available. Over the weekend just passed, one of the damaged units was repaired and returned to service. Work is continuing to complete planned overhauls and repairs to return another unit to service by Sunday, October 6, and the company anticipates that the outages customers are currently experiencing would be alleviated," the release noted.

Berbice power situation
It said that in Berbice, a key generator at Canefield suffered a major seizure of the crankshaft bearings in August and mechanical experts from the United Kingdom are due at Canefield this week to assess the damage and recommend a course of action.

Every effort is being made to ensure that this unit is back in service in time for the upcoming Christmas holidays, GPL said.

"GPL is also in the process of sourcing a replacement part for the main generating set on Onverwagt, West Berbice.

"The area, in the meantime, is being powered from two locations -- the Onverwagt station where two mobile Caterpillar units are installed, and from Canefield via a 69kv transmission link.

"The shortfall created by the loss of the sets at Canefield and Onverwagt, has amounted to approximately 30 per cent of generation which has severely limited GPL's ability to meet the total peak demand for power in the region, " the release said.

According to GPL, many avenues "have been explored in our efforts to return the supply position in Berbice to normalcy. Last August, three mobile generators were relocated to Berbice from Sophia to help alleviate the generation shortfall, and very shortly, a fourth unit will be installed at the Number 53 Village sub-station as soon as a major overhaul and rebuilding exercise is complete."

"This set is expected to improve reliability of supply to customers on the Upper Corentyne in particular," the release stated.

The power company said it regretted the inconvenience caused to Demerara customers, who have experienced power outages in recent days, and to those in Berbice as a result of the ongoing outages throughout the region.