Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality mayoral committee member for electricity and energy, Councillor Luxolo Namette, recently visited the Neave Substation to check on the progress of the refurbishment.
The substation is one of the critical substations within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality electricity infrastructure, as it supports a big industrial area.
The refurbishment focuses on proper periodic review, tracking, and repair, in order to extend the transformer’s lifetime and reliability.
It has, in the past, been one of the substations that have been targeted by vandals.
Namatte said that the refurbishment forms part of the city’s programme to refurbish infrastructure that has got critical importance to the city’s economy.
“The work being done here has got far-reaching positive implications.
“This substation supports factories, which employ a number of our people. Any failure of this substation directly affects the sustainability of these factories, which will ultimately lead to either job creation or job losses,” he said.
Namette said for the city to attract investment, there needed to be a clear commitment from the city to invest in its infrastructure development and maintenance.
He also called on the residents to work with the municipality to root out vandalism of infrastructure.
“Vandalism has far-reaching financial consequences. Replacing a transformer alone can cost anything between R10 million and R30 million, depending on its size, making it the most costly part of the network.
“It will take months for us to be able to replace it, which may result in job losses in the region.
“We encourage residents and businesses to assist us in securing our energy infrastructure by reporting illegal activity and vandalism near our substations,” he added.
Transformers, which are usually damaged by this vandalism and cable theft, are an important component of the electricity distribution network because they step down the voltage from transmission to distribution in order to reticulate a safe voltage to the public.
They provide electricity to a large number of customers, ranging from 10 000 to 20 000, depending on the type of customer and the capacity of the transformer.
Late last year the city allocated R11 million capital budget to refurbish seven electricity transformers across Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
This was done to make sure that residents and businesses do not experience frequent power outages.
The decision was taken following an analysis of whether it was better to refurbish the equipment or to replace it.
Issued by: Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Communications Office
