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Grid infrastructureSouth AfricaEIR-2165

Transformer explodes during repairs at Eldorado Park substation, Johannesburg

Apr 2022Published 8 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

SignificantElectricalProvisionalNext update 10 Oct

Estimated damageModelled by the register's adjusterHow? Know the real figure?

Medium confidence

supply cut for about •• daysShown in the record →Full estimate

Companies named in this entry: City Power

What happened

A substation at Eldorado Park, Johannesburg, was gutted by fire, and several areas lost electricity. City Power was repairing the substation and had promised to restore supply by the evening of Wednesday 20 April 2022. On the Wednesday afternoon, City Power livened up a second transformer at the site, and it exploded at about 15:15. The explosion affected a first transformer, which had been successfully energised the previous day and then tripped on impact.

The utility had switched on the Goldev switching substation at 14:55 and restored customers in Freedom Park, Mpumelelo, Devland and other areas, but the later explosion left areas mostly around Eldorado Park without supply again. City Power said the blown transformer would be replaced with a new unit brought to site, and it gave no estimated time of restoration for the remaining customers. Residents were left without electricity for almost a full week in winter-like temperatures.

Contributing factors

The substation had been damaged by a fire the previous week, which also affected other substations serving Devland, Olifantsvlei, Kliptown, Klipspruit and Freedom Park. The executive mayor of the City of Johannesburg described the blaze as a deliberate act of sabotage. The source does not give a technical cause for the transformer explosion.

Lessons learned

Test and energise repaired transformers in a controlled sequence, and check for damage from a previous fire before reconnecting them to the network.
Plan restoration for the whole affected network, not only the sections that can be supplied first, and keep customers informed when a restoration time changes.
Protect critical substations against deliberate damage, and review security and monitoring arrangements after a fire at a substation.

More lessons on design, standards and commissioning, outages, backup supply and restoration, theft, arson and site security, from every incident on the register.

Source

citizen.co.za

Other entries that name Eldorado

Fire damages Eldorado Park substation and cuts power EIR-2028 · 2022
Fire damages substation and cuts power in Eldorado Park EIR-1212 · 2018

Published 2026-10-08. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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