Substation explosion leaves Bloemfontein residents without power for two days

What happened

A substation exploded in Bloemfontein in the Free State province of South Africa on a Thursday, shortly before the report was published on 11 December 2022. Residents in areas in the south of the city were left without electricity for two days. The local power supplier, Centlec, said the damage caused by the explosion was so extensive that it took more than 48 hours to restore supply. Power was restored to some of the affected areas, but a further fault was then detected in the Pellissier and Fichardpark suburbs, and technicians were still working to locate it at the time of reporting. The source does not state the cause of the explosion or whether anyone was injured.

Contributing factors

The source does not state the cause of the explosion. It reports that the damage from the explosion was extensive and that a minor fault occurred after the initial repair, delaying full restoration.

Lessons learned

1. Substation explosions can cause damage that takes days rather than hours to repair, so operators should hold spares and repair crews ready for major equipment failures.
2. Restoring supply in stages can expose a network to secondary faults, so operators should test each restored section before declaring power back on.
3. Operators should communicate clearly with affected residents about expected restoration times and update them when faults are found.

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

Source

sabcnews.com