GPL forges ahead with groundwork for new transmission lines

The foundation works to install the new 69- and 230-kilovolt (kV) transmission lines from the newly constructed Goedverwagting Substation on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) all the way to Berbice are currently underway.

As part of its expansion and development plan, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc is undertaking a US$422 million (approximately G$90 billion) project to expand and upgrade the country’s transmission and distribution networks. These works will see new infrastructure being built to facilitate the distribution of power from the highly anticipated Gas-to-Energy (GtE) project to the national grid.

The power from the GtE project, which is expected to deliver some 300 megawatts (MW) by the end of this year, will be dispatched to the Goedverwagting Substation, where it will be added to the national grid and then further transmitted via the new lines.

Team Leader of the Executive Management Committee at GPL, Kesh Nandlall, told this publication that works are ongoing to facilitate the installation of new 69-kV and 230-kV transmission lines.

“These transmission lines will be moving power from Goedverwagting to Berbice, and they are made up of transmission lines 69-kV and 230-kV, as well as numerous substations. So, the lines are not up physically as yet, but we’ve ordered the materials. They are doing the pile driving; then they’re going to do the pile capping, and then they will put up the monopoles or towers to string the lines to transmit power to Berbice,” Nandlall noted.

The multi-million dollar contract was signed in April 2025 for these works. The project is divided into three lots: Lots One and Three were awarded to PowerChina for a combined total of US$256.7 million, while Lot Two was awarded to Kalpataru for US$156.5 million.

Among these works is the installation of some 155 kilometres (km) of 230-kV double-circuit transmission lines, which will interconnect the Goedverwagting Substation to a new substation that will be built at Williamsburg, Region Six (East Berbice–Corentyne).

Meanwhile, another 167 km of 69-kV double-circuit transmission lines will be established to replace existing infrastructure along the railway embankment, linking substations along the ECD all the way to Columbia in Mahaicony, where a substation already exists.

Meanwhile, the new substation at Williamsburg is among five new substations that will be built as part of the project, which also includes the upgrade of the Kingston substation in Georgetown – all aimed at improving power transmission efficiency and accommodating future growth throughout the country.

In order to facilitate the installation of these new transmission lines, a new road network is being developed from the Goedverwagting Substation in the back lands along the East Coast corridor heading to Mahaicony in Region Five (Mahaica–Berbice).

On Friday, the GPL head led a high-level team to inspect the progress of what he describes as the “electricity corridor”. The team conducted a site visit near the Goedverwagting Substation, where the access roads are being built by the Housing Ministry’s Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA).

“We have a 69-kV line on the Railway Embankment. That line has to be removed so that the four-lane [railway] road can be completed. So, we are building a new access road to replace those lines with both the 69-kV and 230-kV. The 230-kV line will run up to Hope, where it will then divert south and continue east to Berbice. So, that 230-kV line will also have its own corridor,” Nandlall explained.

According to the GPL Head, this new road network in the back lands is specifically for GPL to allow access for maintenance works.

“All of this will be exclusively for GPL because you’re going to have a high-voltage line running there. Also, we’re going to have to have maintenance for all these things, so that road is a GPL corridor; it’s an electricity corridor we’re building on a road. The power line will be on one side so our vehicles can drive when we need to go and do any maintenance,” he noted.