Explosion at Peter Road substation in Roodepoort disrupts electricity supply

What happened

Some residents of Roodepoort in Gauteng were entering a second day without electricity after an explosion at the Peter Road substation early on Sunday morning. City Power reported substantial damage. Cable theft may have caused the explosion, though that has not been confirmed. Repairs began on Sunday, and by Monday morning about 40% of customers served by the substation had power restored. A distributor that had been restored overnight then tripped at about 02:00 because of a suspected fault. City Power said it aimed to restore most or all remaining customers by Monday evening. Whether that was achieved is not reported.

Contributing factors

City Power said cable theft may have caused the explosion. The same report describes repeated theft and vandalism of mini substations in Johannesburg, with Roodepoort among the areas hardest hit, but it does not confirm that as the cause here.

Lessons learned

1. Treat cable theft as a possible cause of substation explosions, and keep physical security under review where theft is already reported.
2. Hold spares for protection and other substation equipment so repairs are not delayed by stock shortages.
3. After partial restoration, retest circuits before treating supply as stable, because a restored distributor can trip again on a suspected fault.

Source

News24 (news24.com)