City Power forced to load shed south of Joburg
The utility planned to black out areas around Lawley and Ennerdale to protect the infrastructure and avoid the total shutdown of the substation.
Picture: iStock
Johannesburg utility City Power had to resort to load shedding in some areas after maintenance issues with the infrastructure were apparently worsened by illegal connections.
Spokesperson Isaac Mangena said City Power conducted load rotation on one-third of Lawley 2 where the city continued to notice an increase in demand between 6pm and 10pm.
“We are happy that the other areas heeded our call and reduced demand by switching off non-essentials. The situation is still very critical and we will continue to monitor the load demand and act accordingly when and if the substation is under threat,” said Mangena.
On Friday, the city sent out a statement warning several suburbs its system was under severe pressure in certain areas and load shedding was highly probable.
The utility planned to black out areas around Lawley and Ennerdale, south of Joburg, to protect the infrastructure and avoid the total shutdown of the substation.
“The decision was informed by a risk assessment conducted on Hopefield substation which pointed to a serious threat due to the overloading of the network, that could lead to the total blackout of the areas,” Mangena said on Friday.
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