The City of Joburg announced that R1-billion will be invested to boost operations at the Sebenza Substation to minimise power outages, especially in the north-east of Joburg.
The executive mayor, Clr Herman Mashaba, conducted an oversight visit to the substation on August 6 to inspect refurbishments at the substation.
“Sebenza Substation is a buffer bulwark supply facility currently being built to mitigate against power outages arising from electricity demand exceeding supply.
“The multi-party government inherited an electricity network that required urgent attention. In many parts, infrastructure had been built decades ago for communities that have now grown substantially in size. Twenty-seven per cent of the city’s bulk transformers have been running past their useful lifespan, producing a staggering 177 000 low voltage outages in 2017/18,” said Mashaba.
He said over the past few months, the north-eastern parts of Johannesburg have endured frequent power outages arising from these challenges.
“Our visit to the Sebenza Substation marks the occasion in which a new second transformer has come online, which effectively doubles the electricity output of this facility. Its impact on stabilising the grid will be profound, greatly reducing the instability of electricity supply to the north-eastern parts of our city.
“Later this year, a third transformer will be installed at the Sebenza Substation which will achieve a massive improvement in the stability of the electricity grid throughout Johannesburg.
“This project is rooted in the Diphetogo strategy of addressing the enormous inherited infrastructure backlogs that plague communities with service delivery disruptions. The prioritisation of this work in the 2018/19 budget will begin to achieve the long-term turnaround of the city and the change demanded by its residents,” said Mashaba.
