City Power restores supply after fire at Fort Substation, Johannesburg

What happened

A fire damaged electrical infrastructure at City Power's Fort Substation in Johannesburg, South Africa, disrupting electricity supply to residents, businesses and public facilities in the Johannesburg CBD, Hillbrow, Braamfontein and Berea, among other areas. The utility reported that 17 damaged medium-voltage cables were repaired and that supply was restored to all affected customers ahead of the initial deadline. Technical teams worked around the clock to repair the cables, test equipment and restore electricity in phases.

Customers were advised to wait 15 to 30 minutes before switching on appliances and then to turn them on gradually to avoid a sudden surge in demand. Public facilities affected included the Constitutional Court and the National Health Laboratory Service.

Lessons learned

1. City Power plans improved fire detection and protection systems at its substations, which it says are aimed at reducing restoration times when faults occur.
2. The utility links planned cable replacements and substation renewals to supply reliability after a fire that damaged multiple medium-voltage cables.
3. Phased re-energisation, with customers advised to wait and then switch appliances on gradually, helps avoid a sudden surge in demand that could overload the network during recovery.

More lessons on detection and monitoring, electrical protection and isolation, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Source

ewn.co.za