The eThekwini Municipality has on Friday alerted residents in the Phoenix area, north of Durban, of an unstable power supply to the area, after a fire broke out at the Redfern Major Substation earlier this week.
The Municipality said Monday’s fire at Redfern major substation was a result of an electrical fault.
The substation is situated in the Phoenix Industrial Park vicinity.
The main transformer was not damaged by the fire, however, the transformer’s cabling was damaged along with secondary cables.
“Teams have already been assigned to repair and replace the affected equipment. Once the necessary repairs are completed, rigorous testing and commissioning will be carried out to ensure the safe restoration of the substation to the network.
“The Redfern Substation will return to service within the next 8 to 10 weeks,” the City said.
The gap in supply left by the disruption at Redfern was filled by re-routing power from other major substations in the area.
But this strain on the regional grid may cause an unstable supply of electricity, the Municipality said.
“During the ongoing repair work at the Redfern Major Substation, any potential failures in the distribution network may result in prolonged outages in the area until the distribution network fault is resolved,” it said.
Earlier this week, about 20 minutes north of Phoenix, at the Dube Trade Port, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Siboniso Duma said that municipalities need to step up their efforts toward delivering services, creating a business conducive environment.
Duma was speaking at the launch of the new FutureLife factory at the Dube Trade Port, which is not too far away from the Phoenix area.
The MEC also said municipalities need to put in extra security measures to protect state assets.
“They must address issues causing power outages by upgrading and maintaining substations to improve the reliability of electricity supply. They must put in place security measures to address cable theft, extend basic services to all households and prevent illegal connections,” the ANC provincial chairperson said.
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