Some areas of KwaGuqa was left in total darkness after a sub station burned in Lynnville.
The areas most affected were Lynnville, Ackreville, Thushananga and the industrial areas of Ferobank after the substation burned on Wednesday, July 20.
It was evident that a lot of damage has occurred at the sub station. The people who witnessed the fire said they saw a bolt of fire as smoke filled the area near the sub station in Lynnville. They also heard the ground shaking, the other mini sub stations in some streets of Lynnville were also affected by the fire.
Smoke coming from the burned sub station in Lynnville on Wednesday, July 20.
Part of the sub station in Lynnville that burned leaving some parts of KwaGuqa in the dark for days.
Fire fighters trying to put out the fire at a burned sub station in Lynnville.
Residents were curious and were concerned but teams from Eskom and the municipality worked very hard to restore electricity in the affected areas.
Municipal Manager Mr Theo Van Vuuren provided updates on the work that has been done. In one of the updates he stated that the teams were working on a temporary solution.
“The team comprised of Eskom, municipal teams and external service providers. Eskom teams were responsible for provision of equipment and the construction thereof. The construction of the temporary infrastructure is approximately 90% complete and should be complete for energization. The municipal teams and external service providers were responsible for cable work and network repairs. Multiple faults were discovered on the distribution network wherein equipment needs replacement before the power supply can be restored in the entire community. The municipal teams worked overnight to commission the 40 MVA transformer as it required the installation and termination of control cabling as the existing control cables were stolen.”
A mini sub station which was affected by the burned sub station in Lynnville on July 20.
The ground near the burned sub station in Lynnville showed the shaken ground.
Control cabling was sourced from Eskom and was installed by the municipal teams who worked overnight to complete the work. Eskom breaker specialists assisted with repairs and servicing of 132 kV outdoor breakers. The municipal team completed the testing and commissioning of the 40 MVA transformer and energized the unit at 3:45am whereupon loading was systematically done to the affected customers of KwaGuqa Ackerville, Thushanang and Ferrobank Industrial. The municipal team had to replace stolen transformer cables at Riba substation and repairs to the 22kV bulk supply cable from Buffer to Riba substations. The municipal teams worked through the network to repair stolen and vandalized cables at mini substations within the affected areas.
Mr Van Vuuren went on to thank the municipal teams, Eskom management and teams who went the extra mile in assisting them to find a solution to the problem.
“This joint operation strengthened the cooperation between us and will be a model going forward. A special thanks to our Eskom managers and staff, Mr Chris Lukhele, Mr Musa Mabila and Mr Louis Maleka. Also to Mr Colin Brentjies from the municipality and all his team members,” added Mr Van Vuuren.
