Lotus substation: City Power technicians resume repairs after rain disruption

Heavy rainfall on Wednesday morning disrupted the repair work City Power is undertaking at the Lotus substation in Roodepoort.

This comes after a fire caused substantial damage on Sunday night.

Despite the delay, City Power said it made progress on Tuesday night.

“The team made substantial gains overnight, including completing the installation of all components around the transformer, and the successful testing of the transformer,” it said.

Cause of blaze

Although the cause of the fire was not yet known, theft and vandalism have been ruled out.

The substation caught fire for the second time over the weekend, after it first burnt down just over a year ago.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Lotus substation gutted by fire, several areas in the dark

On Monday, 6 February 2023, City Power’s Isaac Mangena said a number of areas were affected.

“The substation has been running on one transformer after the standby transformer burnt last year, along with the feeder board. Affected customers include those in Vlakfontein 1, 2, 3, and Madala section, and also those in Hospital Hill,” said Mangena.

Estimated restoration time

Mangena said although technicians were back on site, power may only be restored on Friday.

“Despite the rain we are confident that we will achieve our commitment to restore power by Friday,” he said.

Mangena said the functionality testing and energising of the substation’s transformer should resume soon. He also blamed a generator “challenge” for delaying the repairs.

“Currently the oil in the transformer is being topped up. We expect for the functionality testing to be followed up with the energizing of the transformer, if all goes according to plan.

He added that technicians also had to abandon moving the burnt transformer from the site due to the rain.

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Compiled by Asanda Mbayimbayi