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Grid infrastructureSouth AfricaEIR-2376

Explosion at Newton Park substation cuts half of Port Elizabeth power

Jan 2020Published 14 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

SignificantElectrical
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supply cut for about •• daysShown in the record →Full estimate
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Companies named in this entry: Nelson Mandela Bay municipality

What happened

On Monday 13 January 2020 an explosion at a municipal substation in Newton Park, Port Elizabeth, knocked out about half of the city's power supply, according to the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality. The explosion occurred within the proximity of SABC premises in Port Elizabeth. Umhlobo Wenene FM went off air for the first time in recent history during the outage, and the current affairs show and the breakfast programme were lost.

The station played jazz before switching to an unscheduled show from the SABC Sea Point studios in Cape Town, and later broadcast from an outside broadcast vehicle while technical staff worked on restoring services. The municipality said a fault between the Chatty and Ditchling main substations affected half the city. By the time of reporting, 99.5% of areas had been restored, with no time frame given for the remainder, mainly in Gelvandale.

Contributing factors

The municipality described a fault between the Chatty and Ditchling main substations. The source does not state what caused the explosion itself.

Lessons learned

  1. Substations located near broadcast or other critical facilities need separation distances and fault isolation so a single failure does not disable essential services.
  2. Operators should keep backup power and an outside broadcast or alternative transmission route ready so that broadcasters can continue to air during a grid outage.
  3. Clear and early public communication on restoration status and expected timeframes reduces uncertainty for affected customers and services.

More lessons on spacing, layout and fire spread, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Source

dailydispatch.co.za

Published 2026-10-14. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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