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Grid infrastructureSouth AfricaEIR-2192

Transformer fire at Cloetesville substation left Stellenbosch without power for over 26 hours

May 2023Published 10 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

SignificantThermal / fire
Estimated damageModelled by the register's adjusterHow? Know the real figure?
Figure hidden: shown to subscribersMedium confidence
supply cut for about •• daysShown in the record →Full estimate
From the recordFailed part hidden

Companies named in this entry: Eskom

What happened

A fire at the Cloetesville substation in Stellenbosch, South Africa, on 22 May 2023 blew out a transformer at the site. The outage affected Cloetesville, Kayamandi and Koelenhof from around 17:30 that day. According to Stellenbosch Municipality, power was restored at around 19:00 on 23 May, after an outage of over 26 hours. The municipality said reinstatement was delayed because the damage to the infrastructure was more severe than it and Eskom had first predicted.

Once power returned, the municipality staggered the switching-on of each suburb to avoid overloading and further tripping. Residents reported being unable to cook, having no warm water because geysers could not be powered, and facing water problems because reservoirs could not refill. Streetlights and traffic lights were also out.

Contributing factors

The source states that the damage was more severe than initially predicted, which delayed repairs. The cause of the fire is not reported.

Lessons learned

  1. Restoration timelines should be based on verified damage assessments, and revised estimates should be communicated to the public promptly.
  2. Staggered re-energisation of affected areas after a major outage limits overloading and repeat tripping.
  3. Prolonged outages affect water supply, cooking and traffic, so operators and municipalities should plan for these knock-on effects.

More lessons on emergency response and public communication, outages, backup supply and restoration, fire suppression and firefighting, from every incident on the register.

Source

smfnews.org

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

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Chart to reuse with this story: Grid infrastructure incidents in South Africa, by year, free with a credit (PNG).

Grid infrastructure incidents in South Africa: 122 entries, with a free alert for the next one.

Substation and transformer fires: the counts, the latest entries and a free alert for the next one.

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