The Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services Department, Cllr Michael Sun, conducted an oversight visit to three substations in the north of Johannesburg; Khanyisa, Hurlingham and Brynorth Substations on Friday, 4 March 2022.

MMC Sun was accompanied by City Power acting CEO Tshifularo Mashava and her team, as well as ward councillor Marialett “Emi” Koekemoer.

MMC’s visit kicks off the inspection tours of City Power’s new and enhanced Infrastructure Maintenance Programme.

City Power has been conducting maintenance to 45MVA transformers at the Khanyisa and Hurlingham substations. The MMC also conducted an unannounced oversight to the Brynorth substation, which has been the cause of repeated power outages affecting parts of Bryanston, Riverpark, Douglasville and Morningside.

Before the maintenance was done at Khanyisa and Hurlingham substations, there were severe oil leaks and high Partial Discharge (PD), which had been detected during Plant Condition Monitoring inspections and tests. Generally, power transformers are maintained at five (5) year intervals.

“The cost of building a substation start from approximately R15million. Over the past years, these critical infrastructures were not properly maintained which resulted in constant power outages and unnecessary costs to repair and inconveniences to the residents.

“In the coming months, I will conduct oversight visits to our substations, particularly those with maintenance issues. We are committed to delivering quality services to our residents, and we will work hard to address issues that affect our electrical distribution systems,” said MMC Sun.

A standard maintenance program at the substation would entail the following:

• Check and gasket on the bushings, main tank and the tap changer.
• Drain replace old, contaminated oil.
• Inspected and service radiator fins
• Change silica-gel
• Service fans and motors
• Service conservator and bucholtz
• Check and replace discs on surge arrestors
• Test and calibrate indicators
• Spray-paint bushing phases
• Test winding resistance, ratio, insulation resistance and oil breakdown
• Tighten loose connections
• Clean breather oil bath
• Remove carbon deposits and clean the surfaces
• Clean bushings and surge arrestors
• Lubricate mechanical box
• Check and ensure oil gauges are in working order
• Jet washed the outside of the transformer with steam cleaner to remove oil
   leak marks
• Reset armed intruder detection alarms
 
Regular inspections are conducted by City Power to monitor the condition of the plant by using specialised test equipment.

City Power has committed to the new Infrastructure Maintenance Program, and MMC Sun, in collaboration with City Power, is dedicated to ensuring quality service delivery to the City’s residents.

More oversight visits to other substations are planned as part of the City of Johannesburg’s “golden promise” to restore uninterrupted power supply to the City’s residents. 

Issued by:
CLLR MICHAEL SUN
MMC: ENVIRONMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES DEPARTMENT
(011) 807-0633

​08/03/2022