The City of Ekurhuleni will be spending more than R100-million to stabilise power supply in Germiston‚ following weeks of prolonged power outages in the area.
In a statement‚ the metro said Germiston had‚ for the past few months‚ experienced intermittent power failures due to ageing medium voltage (MV) underground cables as well as cable theft.
It said every unplanned power interruption due to a network fault caused other equipment failures on the existing infrastructure due to the stress placed on the equipment.
“This has led to a number of double faults on the electrical distribution network leaving consumers without electricity for an extended period.”
The metro said it had prioritised seven MV underground cable feeders for immediate replacement to stabilise the network as well as improve reliability and performance.
The total distance of new cables to be installed by June this year in Germiston and surrounding areas is 29.4km.
Phase one of the upgrade will be completed at the end of June.
In the next financial year‚ Ekurhuleni has set aside R80-million to further upgrade the Germiston electricity distribution infrastructure.
“It is important to note that the upgrading of the underground cables does not cause electricity interruptions as engineers lay the new cables adjacent to the existing infrastructure route‚” member of the mayoral committee for water and energy Doctor Xhakaza said.
He said that when the cable feeder had been completed‚ the old cable was disabled and the new cable connected to the ring circuit without affecting supply of electricity.
Ekurhuleni to spend R100m to stabilise power supply in Germiston
The City of Ekurhuleni will be spending more than R100-million to stabilise power supply in Germiston‚ following weeks of prolonged power outages in the area.
In a statement‚ the metro said Germiston had‚ for the past few months‚ experienced intermittent power failures due to ageing medium voltage (MV) underground cables as well as cable theft.
It said every unplanned power interruption due to a network fault caused other equipment failures on the existing infrastructure due to the stress placed on the equipment.
“This has led to a number of double faults on the electrical distribution network leaving consumers without electricity for an extended period.”
The metro said it had prioritised seven MV underground cable feeders for immediate replacement to stabilise the network as well as improve reliability and performance.
The total distance of new cables to be installed by June this year in Germiston and surrounding areas is 29.4km.
Phase one of the upgrade will be completed at the end of June.
In the next financial year‚ Ekurhuleni has set aside R80-million to further upgrade the Germiston electricity distribution infrastructure.
“It is important to note that the upgrading of the underground cables does not cause electricity interruptions as engineers lay the new cables adjacent to the existing infrastructure route‚” member of the mayoral committee for water and energy Doctor Xhakaza said.
He said that when the cable feeder had been completed‚ the old cable was disabled and the new cable connected to the ring circuit without affecting supply of electricity.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos