The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality said gale-force winds on Wednesday led to the collapse of four 132 kV overhead transmission towers which were “already compromised by rust”, but had been scheduled for reconstruction within this financial year.
In a statement on Saturday, Executive Mayor, Gary van Niekerk, said the towers form part of the network from Chelsea Substation, and supply power to Arlington Substation and Summerstrand Substation through shared double-circuit steel lattice structures.
According to the statement, these structures were already identified as vulnerable due to significant rust damage, and corrosion, likely accelerated by their proximity to the sea and exposure to corrosive salt air.
“These sections have been marked as critical for reconstruction in the 2024/2025 financial year.”
Meanwhile, the priority is to restore power to the Humewood police station and South End fire station.
This will be done through the relocation of a 10MVA transformer from Kwaford Substation to the South End substation to restore a significant portion of the affected areas.
The target date for completing this relocation is 27 August.
“After the transformer is connected at the South End substation, a load-reduction schedule will be implemented to ensure that all customers have a power supply and to prevent the transformer from being overloaded.”
Several mitigation measures have also been put in place including the appointment of construction contractors who are currently on site, to begin building a temporary alternative overhead line to restore the power supply as quickly as possible.
NMB has also commenced with an emergency procurement process for generators, to assist with providing an alternative power supply in the interim.
"This measure aims to alleviate the impact of the outages on affected areas and ensure that essential services can continue operating while repairs are underway.
"We apologise for the significant inconvenience the incident is causing all residents and stakeholders. We plead for calm and understanding, whilst we continue to work around the clock to restore power supply in all affected,” the statement said.
The wards affected include wards 1, 2, 3, & 4 and the areas directly affected by the power outages include Summerstrand, EP Command, Forest Hill, Humewood, South End, Arlington, Lovemore Park, Miramar, Pari Park, Providentia, Schoenmakerskop, Walmer, Walmer Location, Walmer Industrial and other surrounding areas.
