Explosion at Scottsdene substation leaves communities without power for over a week

What happened

A medium-voltage breaker explosion at the Eskom Scottsdene substation left about 21,000 customers without electricity. Feeders supplying Northpine, Scottsdene and part of Wallacedene were repaired and power was restored there. Three MV breakers supplying Bloekombos, Wallacedene and surrounding farms were severely damaged and could not be repaired. Those communities had been without power for more than a week when the report was published. Eskom said a gas leak on a newly installed main breaker delayed the work, and that there was still no exact time for supply to return, though teams were trying to restore it by Friday 7 October.

Contributing factors

Eskom said attempted cable theft and vandalism at the substation also partly led to the unplanned outage. A gas leak on a newly installed main breaker delayed restoration. The cause of that leak was not reported.

Lessons learned

1. Substations need physical security that can deter cable theft and vandalism.
2. During a long outage, tell affected communities directly what is known and what is not, including when no restoration time can yet be given.
3. Check newly installed equipment, including for gas leaks, before it is relied on to restore supply.

Source

IOL (iol.co.za)