Metro happy with refurbishment progress on east substations
Deputy mayor Nasiphi Moya is confident that the Wapadrand substation refurbishment work will meet the October deadline.
Tshwane metro has invested R50-million in the refurbishment of two troubled Pretoria east substations.
The refurbishment and rebuilding work at the Wapadrand substation is progressing well, however, at the Mooikloof substation, refurbishments are going slowly.
This was revealed by the Tshwane deputy mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya, who conducted an oversight visit.
Moya alongside MMC for Utilities Themba Fosi visited the substations flagged as the “high-risk stations”.
The reconstruction and redesigning of the Wapadrand substation, which suffered fire incidents in 2018 and 2021, causing prolonged outages, is expected to improve the reliability of the electricity supply and minimise persistent power outage issues.
Moya said the visit was part of the work that the City Council Project Committee is conducting to ensure that Tshwane meets all the milestones of the 168 capital projects for the financial year.
“The Wapadrand and Mooikloof substations are part of the 168 capital projects that we have flagged as high-risk.”
Moya said the visit to the Wapadrand substation was a success as there were assurances made that the project completion deadline of October 2024 would be met.
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said Wapadrand will be completely redesigned in terms of modern design technology that will also include several safety aspects that did not exist before.
Mashigo said the phased repair work entails the following:
– Construction of new substation building to house new 11kV switchgear panels
– Procurement and installation of 11kV switchgear panels
– Procurement and installation of 132kV protection panels
– Procurement of a battery charger
– Procurement of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Communication Panel
– Procurement and installation of control and power cables in between existing transformers and switchgear
Mashigo said the city was looking into improving the protection aspect of the substation through the installation of the ARC-Protection Scheme on the 11kV switchgear panels.
He also said the city is looking at the physical separation of 11kV switchgear panel buildings to prevent possible fire incidents.
The city is looking at refurbishing 48 feeder panels per stage which equals 16 panels per stage.
He said most fires that had ravaged the substation were a result of electrical faults coming from the secondary network.
“The city is working on improving the protection system to ensure that the faults are isolated within the secondary network before they reach primary substations,” Mashigo told Rekord.
Mashigo said the following measures at the substation will be implemented to improve safety:
– introduction of the arc-protection scheme, which was not installed on the previous and current switchgear
– installation of an improved version of the switchgear panels (AMV12), where each panel is separate from the next one and all the sections (cable, bus bar and breaker section) of the switchgear are compartmentalised
– building firewalls in between switchgear buildings to mitigate any possible fire spread across the buildings.
Mashigo said all substations in Tshwane were designed and built following local and international best practice codes and standards.
Subsequently, there is no electrical equipment that is immune to possible fire damage as a result of potential acts of theft, vandalism or malicious damage, said Mashigo.
He said the city has experienced many cable and battery thefts in the past and recently.
“Batteries and control cables are integral pieces of equipment that are required to keep stability and protection of any substation in the world.”
Mashigo said some of the city infrastructure was ageing rapidly and required regular maintenance and refurbishment.
On the other hand, Moya acknowledged that the refurbishment work at the Mooikloof substation has been met with delays.
“We have plans to ensure that the completion of the project is finalised,” she said.
Mooikloof substation was recently ravaged by a fire leaving thousands of east ratepayers powerless for more than seven days.
The Mooikloof 132/11kV substation caught fire which damaged Transformer B and panels on the evening of April 17.
Ratepayers in Garsfontein and other 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 were affected by a massive outage.
Moya said: “What is important in both substation projects is to make sure that we put in place the necessary protections to help avoid future fires and disruptions.”
She said the city is comfortable with the progress that has been made at both the Wapadrand and Mooikloof substations.
“We are going to continue following up to ensure that the R50-million injected for both substation projects is spent accordingly and that there is value for money.
“The energy and electricity department’s budget allocations are primarily focused on enhancing the city’s electricity infrastructure and networks,” she concluded.
Read more: Wapadrand substation to be fully refurbished end of October
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