City Power working to restore supply in Soweto

The feeder board at the Soweto Substation was burnt in the early hours of Thursday after high-tension jumpers were broken at the Orlando Switching Station. The broken jumpers led to a chain of events which resulted in a fire at the Soweto Substation plunging Pimville Zone 9, Ekhaya Orlando, Baragwanath Hospital, University of Johannesburg, Power Park, Doornkop military base and Motsoaledi into darkness.

City Power teams are currently working on connecting the new feeder board to the transformer at the Soweto Substation. Over the weekend, teams were able to lay and test cables running from the transformer to the feeder board, however during pressure testing one cable was found to be faulty.

“This fault stems from  the vandalism on Thursday where some cables were burnt and possibly cut. The cable fault has been repaired and the team is currently jointing the cable, more tests will resume which will indicate if there is further fault. There are also three terminations to go and then cable jointing will be completed. The biggest element of the project was completed by the protection team over the weekend-earthing is critical to safeguard the substation from certain risks,” said City Power spokesperson, Isaac Mangena.

He added: “The good news is that the pressure release valve on the transformer has been tested and cleared. The team is also repairing the breaker which was found to be faulty. The breaker will be fitted with a coil to ensure that the transformer trips in case of emergency, the coil also ensures that there is a signal which indicates when there is a fault.”

The estimated time of restoration will be communicated later today.