PHILIPSBURG-GEBE signed a contract with N.V. BetonBouw Caribbean Construction (BCC) for the construction of the new Pond Island Substation. Construction will begin in a few weeks and is expected to take eight months. The completion date is scheduled for mid December 2009. The Pond Island Substation will replace the smaller substation that is currently located in the GEBE parking lot in Philipsburg.
As part of the project, two new 240mm-cables will be laid from the Cay Bay power plant to the new Pond Island substation and linked to the Zagersgut Substation. This creates a ring of electricity that facilitates better control of the electricity distribution allowing technicians to manage the load and improve reliability of the distribution system.
The purpose of a substation is to receive the 12 kVA voltage directly from the power plant through 240mm heavy duty aluminum core cables and redistribute the electricity to the various neighborhoods. The power is then transformed from high tension to low tension in the transformer houses that are connected to the individual households through low tension cables.
The Pond Island Substation will mirror its Zagersgut counterpart in design and functionality. It will be situated on the lot across from the TelEm building that was especially prepared last year for this purpose. The design of the building will be almost an exact duplicate of the Zagersgut Substation that is built to house all the receiving and distribution cables, but also to withstand natural disasters. The building is made entirely from concrete to withstand hurricane force winds. Additional safeguards were incorporated in the elevation of the building and watertight cable entries in the event of flooding.
The construction of the Pond Island Substation is being executed by N.V. BetonBouw Caribbean Construction (BCC) and overseen by Independent Consultant Engineers (ICE). The GEBE team members overseeing the project are Elvis Gumbs and Donald Webster.
This project forms part of GEBE's vision to provide reliable and high quality electricity to the Windward Islands. When completed the substation will provide GEBE with an alternative route to supply Philipsburg in the event of a short circuit or damage to one of the main feeder cables.
