Kingston Power Station “problem” causing extensive blackout

Last Updated on Thursday, 10 April 2025, 23:30 by Writer

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said Thursday’s prolonged blackout is caused by a problem at the Kingston Power Station.

He said he was told that there was a problem with a “battery”. He made it clear that there was no shortfall in electricity generation.

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) said, “an investigation found damaged components at the Kingston Plant, and immediate efforts are being made to secure and install replacements. Further investigation and analyses are being carried out.”

The power company did not issue a statement on the reason for the outage in the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS) until minutes after Mr Jagdeo criticised that utility for not being proactive in its public relations.

GPL said approximately at 07:25 hrs, a technical fault occurred at the Kingston Power Plant. The Direct Power Control System failed on the Busbar, triggering the disconnection of all breakers on that Busbar, including three critical feeders, two generators, and a main 69kV transformer. As a result, the Kingston Plant went offline, causing a cascading shutdown across the DBIS.

Engineers immediately began assessing the failure at the Kingston Plant, while system control engineers promptly initiated power restoration efforts, starting from the Garden of Eden location.

An investigation found damaged components at the Kingston Plant, and immediate efforts are being made to secure and install replacements. Further investigation and analyses are being carried out.