R110m Kentron substation revival promises end to Centurion blackouts
· Citizen
Promises to reduce the persisting power outages in parts of Centurion were delivered with the handover of the newly refurbished Kentron substation.
Visit somethingsdifferent.biz for more information.
The city’s head of sub-transmission management, Itumeleng Shibisi, said that although the formal handover was on Tuesday, the substation was in use.
Kentron substation rebuild cost R110 743 739
“It’s a very important substation that serves the businesses in the Centurion area in region 4.
“The total cost of the project was R110 743 739. This substation was refurbished due to a fire that happened here in 2014.
“This is one of the few substations that burned due to an electrical fault and not theft or vandalism. This substation is the cornerstone from where we started changing our substations, such as Wapadrand, Mooikloof JJ Substation,” he said.
MMC utility services Frans Boshielo said he was happy about the handover of what he described as a state-of-the-art substation, which will benefit the community and businesses in the area.
“They are no longer going to experience constant power failures. Even if there is a power failure, this substation has the capacity to prevent it from cascading into multiple power faults.
No longer experience constant power failures
“Before the end of July, we will be handing over the Pyramid substation as well,” he added.
Boshielo said the rehabilitation of the facility and the restoration of its full 120MVA capacity represent a decisive intervention to address these legacy challenges.
City of Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya said Region 4 was one of the economic hubs in the city.
“When there are issues here, and we are looking at the revenue, region 4 contributes a massive amount of our revenue.
“In terms of the people who stay here, it’s the middle class, small and young families, that’s the city we are building for, including Olievenhoutbosch, where many of the workforce of the city live, that feeds into the economic activities of this region.
Economic hubs
“If we can reduce the number of power outages, that will be the true measure. Yes, we can build new infrastructure, but if that infrastructure does not reduce the number of outages at a household level, I don’t think we can count ourselves successful.
“If we don’t build infrastructure, we can’t attract new business,” she added.
Deputy mayor and MMC for finance Eugene Modise said these assets will ensure the people of Centurion, but especially the businesses, will have a steady supply of electricity.
“We are delivering. The naysayers are going to fall flat, because the people of Centurion are now going to benefit from this refurbished substation.”
City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo reminded customers supplied from the Pretoria North, Wonderboom, Wolmer, Mayville, Capital Park, K1, K2 and K3 132kV substations of a planned power supply interruption scheduled for Sunday.
Planned power supply for Sunday
“Technicians are compelled to switch off power supply to enable the safe execution of critical construction activities as part of the ongoing refurbishment of the 132kV Pyramid substation.
“Contractors will install concrete slabs on the southern side of the substation.
“This requires the use of a large crane operating beneath high-voltage transmission infrastructure.
“To ensure the safety of workers, equipment and the public, electrical jumpers on the Kwagga-Parktown-Rooiwal transmission line at tower 119 must be isolated before the crane can be safely operated. For this reason, an outage is unavoidable.”