Millions invested to fix city’s power woes
THE uMhlathuze Municipality is investing more than R130-million into replacing fire damaged transformers to avert further power outages which have for months plagued residents and local businesses.
The municipality said it plans to replace transformers at Hercules, Cygnus, Phoenix, Scorpio and Polaris substations.
Municipal Manager Lulamile Mapholoba said most of the new transformers would be installed before the end of November, and some towards the beginning of next year.
‘We acknowledge the recent power disruptions, mainly in Richards Bay, and had to invest heavily in installing new infrastructure to decisively deal with this problem once and for all,’ Mapholoba said.
The municipality plans to install two new transformers at the Hercules substation feeding Richards Bay town. One transformer is earmarked for the Cygnus substation in eSikhaleni and another for Phoenix, which feeds Brackenham and Aquadene.
A 123/11KV transformer has also been earmarked for the Scorpio substation feeding Foskor, TWK Agri woodchip mill and Grindrod, as well as one for Polaris substation feeding the Alton industrial areas.
The replacement of transformers will be accompanied by the purchase of a 132KV feeder for Scorpio/Neptune and the replacement of a guard wire insulator.
The municipality admitted most of its transformers had been pushed to the limit through periodic maintenance, and had endured serious overloading resulting in power tripping and failures.
These failures have not only resulted in major costs for the city, but also for local industries which risk losing international
markets if the constant power cuts are not addressed.
Foskor, TWK Agri woodchip mill in Richards Bay and surrounding areas were hit hard recently when they were left without power for days after a fire broke out at the Scorpio substation, damaging a transformer and a control room.
General Manager for timber exports and new business at TWK Agri, John Swaine,
recently told the Zululand Observer that these failures have led to unstable power supply affecting daily production.
He said if not corrected soon, the situation would force customers to move their woodchip sourcing to other countries.
'As an export-based industry, it has become increasingly challenging to do business here, as we also face significant challenges from continuous breakdown of ship loading equipment owned and operated by Transnet Port Terminals.
'This causes significant delays, resulting in us as shippers having to pay millions of rands in demurrage costs to the shipping companies.
'These issues also cause us reputational damage relating to our reliability as woodchip suppliers to the export market,' said Swaine.