Five more pylons collapse in Tshwane due to vandalism and theft

Eskom has again fallen victim to theft and vandalism of its electricity infrastructure in the Tshwane area, after five more pylons collapsed in the Hammanskraal.

According to Eskom, no injuries were reported following the incident that occurred along the R101 road.

Fortunately, the electricity supply to customers was not affected.

Eskom said plans were underway to rebuild the infrastructure as the integrity of the towers was compromised beyond repair.

“The theft of tower members leads to the instability and collapse of the pylons that carry high voltage power lines, which then poses a serious safety risk to members of the public and often results in the interruption of supply,” it said on Friday.

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“Such criminal practices have an additionally devastating impact on the economy and on Eskom’s ability to sustain the provision of electricity. The power utility spends a fortune on the replacement of damaged pylons and other network equipment.”

Vandalism spreading

The theft and vandalism of pylons was also spreading across Gauteng, it said.

This incident happened just a day after some City of Tshwane customers were left in the dark after pylons fell due to theft and vandalism.

Power has been restored in these areas, the city announced on Wednesday.

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“The theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure have risen to disastrous proportions, threatening essential services and the lives of innocent people across the Gauteng province,” said Mashangu Xivambu, maintenance and operations senior manager in Gauteng.

Eskom avoiding higher stages of load shedding

Meanwhile, the power utility said on Friday that personnel at its various power stations were working around the clock to bring units back online and at higher efficiencies “as soon as possible”.

Load shedding will be reduced to stage 5 from 5am until 4pm on Saturday. Thereafter, stage 6 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm until 5am on Sunday.

“Apart from other Generation challenges, the current situation is exacerbated by the loss of four major units which are on extended outages,” explained Eskom.

“Units 1, 2 and 3 of Kusile Power Station are currently offline as a result of the failure of the Unit 1 flue gas duct on 22 October 2022. Work is underway to bring these units back online from November 2023.

“Unit 1 at Koeberg Power Station is currently on a long-term outage for maintenance and refuelling as well as the replacement of the steam generators and is expected to return to service on 6 August 2023.

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“The unavailability of the three units at Kusile and the unit at Koeberg 1 has removed 3 080MW of capacity from the grid. This is equivalent to 3 stages of load shedding.”

“Certainly, Eskom does not want to implement loadshedding if at all possible. The power system however, remains under severe pressure and there is a high possibility that load shedding will continue to be implemented at varying stages.”