Wapadrand Substation outage update 08 December 2021

8 December 2021

Wapadrand Substation outage update

The City of Tshwane has been experiencing recurrent trips at its Wapadrand Substation since Sunday, 05 December 2021. Technical teams have been attending to these persisting trips which include investigations into the cause of this service interruption.

Findings have revealed a fault on the mono-block of transformer B which was repaired and its supply area was switched back on. However, yesterday evening, it was discovered that one of the components on the transformer was unstable and had to be reset. Upon energizing the substation, the transformer tripped again which then indicated another possible existence of fault which was attended to.

The following areas are affected:

The substation was then energized again this morning and a flash occurred on one of the equipment. The City then resorted to sourcing the services of a dry ice blasting company to remove carbon on the affected components (busbars) as it is effective than cleaning with bare hands. The said process is currently underway.

All the necessary tests will be performed after dry ice blasting is completed and power will subsequently be restored once all tests are
positive/clean.

Issued by the Communication, Marketing, and Events Department.