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New Beacon Valley electricity mini substation installed

<p>The City’s Energy teams have installed a new mini-substation in Beacon Valley, as part of the Directorate’s R68,5 million capital infrastructure refurbishment investment in the metro’s Area South. Mini substations play an important role in ensuring a stable and reliable electricity supply to households and businesses in an area.</p><p><br></p>

<p>The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Councillor Beverley van Reenen and Energy teams were in Beacon Valley to take a closer look at the mini-substation installation as well as to see the City’s streetlight interventions in the Mitchells Plain area.<br></p><div>‘The newly installed mini substation serves a critical purpose in a community by acting as an important link in the electricity distribution network. Our teams installed the infrastructure behind security gates and we are ensuring that additional security measures are in place to protect this critical infrastructure. <br><br><span><figure class="subtopic-fullsize-img"><img class="responsive" src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Images%202/aBeacon%20Valley%201.jpg" alt="" style="width:928px;" /></figure></span><div><strong>Benefits of mini substations in communities include:<br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Voltage regulation<br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Power distribution<br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Improved electricity reliability<br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Reduced costs</strong></div><div> </div><div>‘Overall, our mini-substations ensure that we have stable electricity supply for our residents. The infrastructure is also generally more cost effective for the City to install and maintain compared to the larger substations; they require less space to install and is easily integrated into a community with minimal disruption to residents in the area. By strategically placing mini substations in communities, we are able to enhance the reliability of the electricity supply.<br></div><br></div><figure class="subtopic-fullsize-img"><img class="responsive" src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/Media%20Images%202/aBeacon%20Valley%202.jpg" alt="" style="width:1016px;" /></figure><div>‘Our teams have been recording an alarming increase in the vandalism of our mini substations. Criminals often use the opportunity to vandalise and steal infrastructure components during load-shedding. These acts do not go unnoticed and we ask residents to help us protect community infrastructure and their electricity supply by reporting to the authorities,’ said Councillor van Reenen. </div><div> </div><div><strong>Vandalism and new interventions for Area South</strong></div><div> <br></div><div>Extreme and unprecedented levels of load-shedding-related vandalism as well as the damage to power infrastructure caused by Eskom’s non-stop load-shedding is wreaking havoc on the City’s extremely dedicated energy teams operating across the metro, and especially in the large Area South, including Mitchells Plain, Gugulethu, Wynberg and Philippi.</div><div> </div><div>The City’s teams are operating under abnormal circumstances. The extreme impact of load-shedding on our power infrastructure (that was not designed for load-shedding) as well as the contribution of load-shedding to the increase of theft and vandalism, have led to extremely negative impacts and backlogs of service requests, especially single streetlight outages.</div><div> </div><div>Many innovative interventions are being investigated, while operational changes are under way to enhance service delivery and turnaround times where required and to eradicate backlogs as fast as possible.</div><div> </div><div><strong>New interventions under way and continued <br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Private security patrols<br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Dedicated Law Enforcement Unit for Energy <br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Alternative lighting solutions for un-electrifiable communities<br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Capacitating neighbourhood watch groups<br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Hi-Tech solutions under investigation<br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Opening satellite equipment stores for faster replacement of infrastructure <br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Appointing new public lighting contractors <br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Operational changes to the escalation of requests<br><br></strong></div><div><strong>• Appointment of more artisans</strong></div><div> </div><div><strong> </strong><br></div><div><strong>Report all suspicious activities at or near electricity infrastructure to the City’s law enforcement agencies or the City’s Fraud Hotline on 0800 1100 77 or to SAPS. SAPS remains the lead authority in crime prevention. </strong></div><div> <br></div><div> </div><div><strong>End</strong><br></div><p><span></span><br></p>

2024-03-06T22:00:00Z

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