City of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba and MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Nico de Jager launched the newly built R187-million Heriotdale substation on 11 April.
This is the second substation to be completed after the launch of the R1.2-billion Sebenza substation in February this year. The construction of the substation began in the 2015/16 financial year and is expected to ease strained power supply from the Cleveland substation.
The substation will supply areas on the southern side of the M2 freeway including South Hills, Steeldale and City Deep. Meanwhile, the Cleveland substation will supply areas on the northern side of the freeway such as Benrose, Denver, Jeppestown and surrounding areas.
An interconnectivity mechanism was used during the construction between Heriotdale and the Cleveland substations through an 88kv overhead line. This would provide a recourse to City Power to transfer the power load from one faulty substation to the other. It will also minimise power outage duration through speedy restoration of power.
The protection and control room is fitted with Scada, a direct current (DC) system and telecommunications equipment, which are significant to monitor, gather and process real-time data in order to convey messages to City Power technicians for early detection of faults on the network.
The substation will also provide 50MVA capacity towards the repairs and renovations on the M2 freeway.
Mashaba said the new substation will add significant stability to Johannesburg’s power grid and ensure that more residents have access to electricity and reliable supply.
“This new substation addresses outages experienced by residents, businesses and industries, especially in the south-eastern parts of Johannesburg due to the age and condition of the Cleveland substation. The construction of this substation is part of City Power’s efforts to upgrade, build and refurbish the electricity network across the City,” said Mashaba.
Which other areas do you think require urgent attention to electricity supply?
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