Power network boosted
By Tabisa Mntengwana
03 November 2009
A NUMBER of electricy projects have been successfully implemented this year, including the construction of new substations in Reeston and at Queenspark Zoo, strengthening the electricity network in Duncan Village and installing street lighting.
Work on the Reeston substation, in East London, began in 2007 and was completed in June this year. It came onstream immediately. It was installed to service the RDP houses being built in the Reeston Housing Development.
In all, the housing estate will comprise 12 000 houses; already 3nbsp;608 units have been built and 606 are currently being constructed.
According to a report by the City electricty department, the new substation was required to ensure a stable power supply to the area. The project included the installation of outgoing feeders, which will be the main source for the supply of electricity.
The Queenspark Zoo substation, in Beaconsfield Road, in the city centre, is also in the process of being completed. A new substation in the area was “a necessity due to the increase in the RDP houses [on the Duncan Village side of the area], commercial connections and other housing developments”, reads the report.
The supply will cater for Duncan Village, Buffalo Flats, the nearby Second Creek housing development and Parkside, providing “relief to the city centre substations”.
Funding for the two substations came from the national Department of Minerals and Energy – the Reeston substation cost R28-million and the Queenspark Zoo substation cost R80-million.
In a separate project, over the past three months street lightning has been installed in the second phase of the Gompo housing development, Dimbaza, Duncan Village, Ginsberg, Scenery Park, Fynbos and Mdantsane.
According to the report, R10-million was also made available from the City budget to strengthen the electricity network in Duncan Village. The power grid in the suburb is constantly overloaded because of the huge number of illegal connections - estimated at over 10 000.
The project includes the removal of the majority of the overhead transformers, upgrading the medium voltage on incoming feeders and installing five mini substations. The low voltage network will be upgraded and parts of the overhead line will be removed and replaced with an underground cable.
Over and above this work, R51-million has been set aside to upgrade and refurbish the city’s electricity infrastructure to ensure the network is stable.
“The project entails the replacement of old obsolete switchgear and the installation of new feeder cables and upgrading of network protection,” reads the report.
The network protection project is ongoing, aimed at ensuring the system is upgraded and well maintained.
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