The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) has not been paralysed by power outages.
The EMM has a huge electricity grid by any standards, and outages occur as a result of numerous causes.
It is regrettable that an image of a failed electricity grid is being portrayed, whilst statistics measured against national standards, indicate the exact opposite.
The metro manages outages responsibly by recording all outages and their durations, by analyzing the causes of the outages, and by then responding to these causes through the application of resources.
The number of power outages is directly proportional to the number of customers serviced from a specific electrical distribution network.
Taking into account the electricity distribution network serviced by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, it is not an accurate reflection to only refer to the number of outages for eight months in isolation (1 375 outages reported).
More information must be added in order to accurately reflect the efficiency of the performance of a distribution network.
Analysing the following information and background, will show that the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality electricity distribution network is still one of the top performers in the country.
Ekurhuleni Electricity Distribution Network information
* The Energy Department is responsible for the provision and maintenance of electricity to EMM licensed supply areas within the metro including streetlights, also in Eskom supplied areas within our boundaries.
* We ensure that continuous network refurbishment and asset maintenance management is done.
* We are in compliance with NRS 047 (Quality of Service) and NRS 048 (Quality of Supply).
* We ensure EMM that adheres to Safety, Health, Quality and Environmental requirements (SHEQ).
* EMM distributes 2 600 MVA to consumers, which is comparable to the total electricity load demand of several of our neighbouring countries combined: Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia.
* The current replacement value of the EMM distribution network = R27-billion.
* The depreciated value = R14 billion.
* The number of Eskom intake points = 54.
* Primary Distribution Substations = 206.
* The length of EMM high voltage cables (44kV – 132kV) = 239 km.
* The length of EMM medium voltage cables (1kV – 33kV) = 5 612 km.
Network reliability
* The quality of electrical energy bought and sold by EMM is monitored by means of a Quality of Supply approach based on data recorded at more than 400 Power Quality (PQ) recorders.
* The major portion of PQ recorders produce data for nearly 100 per cent of the time indicating a high level of inherent system reliability in data.
Data availability is 97.79 per cent as shown below:
* The produced data is available and accessible on a daily basis from a web based Power Quality portal.
* The department uses web based Power Quality recorded data located at strategic points on the electrical network to verify the duration of interruptions.
* Medium and high voltage power outages are recorded at the EMM Centralised Control Centre.
* The recorded power outages statistics are logged as they occur.
* The power outage start time and end time are recorded to calculate the duration of the outage.
* The lost size of the connected load (in kVA) and the duration, are used to calculate % downtime.
* EMM engineers use web based Power Quality records located all over the electrical network to verify the duration of interruptions.
* EMM engineers verify and calculate network performance using the records in accordance with NERSA directives.
The percentage of unplanned outage events (or forced faults) restored, and downtime performance during 2013/2014, are indicated as follows:
Discussion of the percentage of medium voltage forced fault events restored:
NRS standard: 60 per cent power outages restored within one and a half to three and a half
EMM average: 63 per cent power outages restored within one and half to three and a half hours
EMM performs better than the standard (3 per cent better than standard)
NRS standard: 90 per cent power outages restored within three and a half to seven and half a hours
EMM average: 88.6 per cent power outages restored within three and a half to seven and a half hours
EMM performs just below the standard (1,4 per cent worse than standard)
NRS standard: 98 per cent power outages restored within seven and a half to 24 hours
EMM average: 98,1 per cent power outages restored within seven and a half to to 24 hours
EMM performs better than the standard (0,1 per cent better than standard)
NRS standard: 100 per cent power outages restored after 24 hours
EMM average: 100 per cent power outages restored after 24 hours
EMM matches the standard
Discussion of Industry Target:
Industry network non-availability target = 0,8 per cent
0,8 per cent of EMM’s 2 600 MVA load = 21 MVA
Industry network availability target = 99.2 per cent
99.2 per cent of EMM’s 2 600 MVA load = 2 579 MVA
Actual Performance of EMM (better than industry target):
EMM average network non-availability = 0,25 per cent
0.25 per cent of EMM’s 2 600 MVA load = 6,5 MVA
EMM average network availability = 99,75 per cent
99,75 per cent of EMM’s 2 600 MVA load = 2 594 MVA
The following graphs provide some of the EMM statistics
The exact cause of each failure is recorded:
The following table indicates funding spend on refurbishment of the electrical distribution networks 2005-2015, where most of the funding spend is on replacing of cables that failed on a regular basis as indicated in the above-mentioned graph as the main cause of equipment failures.
REFURBISHMENT COSTING SUMMARY: 2005 – 2015
Copper Theft:
Ekurhuleni is successfully dealing with copper theft on its electrical distribution networks, although it remains a major local and national challenge:
Ekurhuleni initiated arrests January 2014 – September 2014:
* 130 arrests were affected applicable to January 2014 – September 2014. E
Ekurhuleni initiated arrests 2013
* 181 arrests were made
Ekurhuleni initiated arrests since specialist contractor deployment in EMM:
* 1 182 cable thieves were arrested since CPI involvement on the Ekurhuleni networks.
Court case update for Ekurhuleni:
During the last 19 month period, 88 accused individuals were convicted and sentenced as part of the Ekurhuleni project.
These convicted and sentenced individuals received a collective 103 years and 5 month’s jail sentence, which excludes fines. Ekurhuleni does have all records to confirm this statement.
Read the previous story here: 1 375 power outages in eight months
