Brynorth frustrations continue
The unreliability at the Brynorth Substation continues to affect residents in the Bryanston and surrounding areas.
Reliability issues plagued Bryanston and surrounding areas as the current state of the Eskom-City Power shared Brynorth Substation continues to hang in the balance.
Residents have been left without electricity on many occasions over the last two months, in addition to load-shedding, due to the years of neglect and no maintenance finally catching up with the substation.
With a total cost to upgrade the substation estimated at R18-million, according to former MMC of Environment and Infrastructure Service Mpho Moerane in 2020, is there any hope for the residents in the area?
According to Ward 104 councillor Emi Koekemoer, the ongoing unreliability, combined with the rain and load-shedding over the last two months has put severe strain on the poorly maintained substation.
“It became apparent that the substation had not been maintained for a long time with vegetation growing between cables and remnants of the explosion on December 17, 2019 clearly visible.”
She added that this has led to frequent power interruptions, even more so during load-shedding, and additional frustration for affected residents.
During a recent oversight visit to the substation, MMC of Environment and Infrastructure Service Michael Sun confirmed that the issues experienced are not new but rather the result of years of neglect – in addition to load-shedding, the stability of the grid remains a challenge.
“The Johannesburg electricity grid is simply not designed to withstand persistent powering up and down. As such outages usually become more common through power surges and other faults due to these blackouts.”
What are Eskom and City Power doing to solve the problem?
During the visit, acting City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava noted cable theft and vandalism as continuous challenges for the substation.
City Power has two transformers at the substation, while Eskom has seven.
In a written response, the Eskom Media Desk confirmed that four of its three transformers have been in full operation in the last three to six months.
“Two of the three transformers are out of operation due to a faulty neutral earthing compensator (NEC) which has been replaced already and awaiting the replacement of the stolen cables and protection work before it can come back on service.
“Cables were also stolen at the third transformer; these are in the process of being replaced.”
Eskom estimates that the above-mentioned work on the three non-operating transformers will be completed by the end of June this year, subject to the weather.
Does this mean that resident will be forced to experience yet another month of rolling blackouts? According to Eskom, aside from load-shedding, you may not be affected as suburbs are currently being supplied from another transformer.
As Eskom and City Power continue to work to ensure the stability of the substation, Koekemoer noted that she is sure that affected residents are eager to see some ‘light’ at the end of the tunnel.
Related articles:
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/259113/bryanston-surrounding-areas-left-without-power-city-power-repairs-feeder-board/
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/244035/power-restored-bryanston-area-within-24-hours-substation-explosion/
