Mooikloof substation expected to be powered up in three days, says councillor

Ratepayers affected by a fire that ravaged the Mooikloof substation on Wednesday, April 17 are expected to have their power restored in three days.

The residents have had no power for four days since the substation went up in flames on the evening of April 17, when a massive blaze broke out, badly damaging the substation and leaving residents without power.

According to the Tshwane MMC for utilities Themba Fosi, the outage affected areas including Garsfontein, several areas east of Solomon Mahlangu Drive, Moreleta Park including the Pretoria East Hospital, Woodlands Lifestyle Estate, Mooikloof Estate, Mooikloof Ridge, The Wilds Estate, and surrounding farms.

Ward 101 councillor Malcolm de Klerk said the teams are expecting to have the substation powered on by Wednesday, April 24.

De Klerk said testing activities showed some faults that had to be mitigated, adding “A minimum of two transformers are needed to get power on to all residents.”

He said teams have since the fire worked on pressure testing cables to be connected between the two transformers that had been identified and the panels.

“The cables coming from one of these transformers tested faulty and needs a complete replacement,” said De Klerk.

De Klerk said the cables also required a reroute from an old section of the substation.

“These transformers have not been in use in years, and they need to have them run for a couple of hours and then test again before they can put a load on it.”

“They are also working on Transformer C as a backup should either transformer A or R be faulty once they have been switched on to help carry the load on the other two transformers once everything is on, especially to prepare for load spikes or load-shedding,” he said.

De Klerk however stressed that work was progressing well and teams were busy.

“The estimated times of repairs were given starting Wednesday, and the current indication is that the substation will be powered by this time to start supplying power to the network, and the network will be phased in from there.”

“But this phase will depend on the cable network. We don’t know yet how that will be done, and answers will be given at a later stage,” said De Klerk.

Tshwane Metro said in a statement on social media that the installation of panels was completed and that wiring works were at 60% completion.

“Pressure testing of transformers and transformer cables is completed. The installation of control cables is currently underway, pending additional feeder cables.”

Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said, “An aerial view of the Mooikloof substation that caught fire [on April 17] indicates that a transformer burnt down.”

Emergency Services Deputy Chief Charles Mabaso said the Tshwane Emergency Services was notified of the incident around 23:24.

“Firefighters arrived on the scene to find parts of the substation on fire. They immediately commenced with fire exposure protection of the unburned side and the firefighting. The fire was brought under control and extinguished around 00:50. They continued with cooling down operations until 01:46. According to electricians on site, the switch gear room suffered extensive damage.”

Mabaso said however, the cause of the fire was yet to be determined.

This fire is one of several that have left hundreds of households without power.

Previously, repair work to restore supply took about nine days after Moreleta Park, Pretorius Park, Mooikloof, Olympus, Woodlands, and part of Garsfontein were left in the dark.

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