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The City of Joburg has invested R1 billion to boost operations at the Sebenza Power substation and minimise the effects of power outages, especially for north-eastern residents.
Following his oversight visit to inspect refurbishments currently underway at Sebenza, the Executive Mayor of the City of Joburg, Cllr Herman Mashaba, said today, 6 August 2018, that a third transformer will be installed to strengthen the stability of the electricity grid throughout the City.
The Sebenza Substation is currently being built to mitigate against power outages arising from electricity demand exceeding supply.
“The multi-party government inherited an electricity network that required urgent attention. In many parts, infrastructure had been built decades ago for communities that have now grown substantially in size. About 27% of the City’s bulk transformers have been running past their useful lifespan, producing a staggering 177 000 low voltage outages in 2017/18,” said Mayor Mashaba.
He said that over the past few months, communities living in the north-eastern parts of Johannesburg have endured frequent power outages arising from these challenges.
“Our visit to the Sebenza Substation marks the occasion during which a new second transformer has come online, which effectively doubles the electricity output of this facility. Its impact on stabilising the grid will be profound, greatly reducing the instability of electricity supply to the north-eastern parts of our City,” said Mayor Mashaba.
The Sebenza project is rooted in the Diphetogo strategy, which seeks to address the enormous infrastructure backlogs that plague communities with service delivery disruptions.
Mayor Mashaba said that by prioritising the project in the 2018/19 budget, improvements will begin to be seen and the long-term turnaround of the City and the change demanded by its residents will be achieved.
