Half of Durban in the dark following substation explosion
Power has been restored in most parts of Durban following widespread outages after a substation explosion.
The city of eThekwini was plunged into darkness on Tuesday night after an explosion at the 275 kilo Volt Klaarwater substation.
The substation is a key electricity supply point to Durban from Eskom.
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The explosion affected electricity supply to areas in the northern, western and southern regions of the city.
eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said technicians were working around the clock to ensure that all areas are fully restored.
“The power has been restored in most areas that have been affected following the explosion at Klaarwater substation with the exception of the area of Shallcross. As a result, our teams are still on site trying to ensure that all areas have got power,” Mayisela said.
The eThekwini municipality apologised to residents for the outage and inconveniences caused.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated.
Meanwhile, ailing parastatal Eskom is expected to provide an update on the national grid after it implemented load shedding on Sunday.
The parastatal initially suspended deliberate power cuts, but it was no surprise when it was reinstated 24 hours later.
Eskom said stage 2 load shedding would be implemented from 4pm to midnight from Monday to Wednesday.
“Eskom will endeavour to limit load shedding to nighttime to have minimal impact on the economy and population,” it said
The power utility said it would provide a further update on Wednesday afternoon “or as soon as any significant changes occur”.
It said power cuts were still needed to replenish emergency generation reserves.
“Since Saturday, two generation units at Kriel and a unit each at Kendal, Komati, Lethabo, Majuba and Matla power stations have returned to service.
“A generating unit each at Kendal and Kusile power stations was taken offline for repairs,” Eskom said.
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