January 19, 2005
By Lucky Sindane
CITY POWER has launched Operation Vuselela - a project to upgrade Johannesburg's ageing electricity network.
The City's electricity provider is set to spend some R2-billion, an average of R400-million a year, to reduce power outages caused by the ailing network.
Power outages have been an increasing problem for the utility, with an ageing infrastructure, population influx and burgeoning housing developments placing increasing demand on the network, as well as antiquated equipment.
Through Operation Vuselela City Power plans to reduce the average age of their equipment, replace obsolete equipment and upgrade overloaded networks to compensate for the natural and anticipated load growth.
It will also see the removal of unsafe equipment and the standardisation of stock and equipment across the city, reducing downtime and allowing for a better use of emergency stock.
According to media reports, government is considering a once-off capital injection to help the utility, with a minimum figure of R800-million under consideration.
Minerals and energy department chief director for electricity, Ompi Aphane, said the blackouts in Gauteng were caused by a lack of investment in electricity networks, and not by demand supply disparities of the kind that lay behind ongoing electricity failures experienced in California after it privatised its electricity networks.
Major upgrades will be done to substations and networks and emphasis is continuously on quicker restoration times.
Capital projects are executed in all 11 administrative regions within the City of Johannesburg.
The networks in the central and southern regions are in the worst condition, with almost 80 percent of the overhead network requiring major replacement.
"About 50 percent of the distribution networks require immediate attention," says the utility's vice president for operations, Silus Zimu.
City Power has appointed consultants to help with the development of network master plan, to provide project management, and to monitor the quality of the work done by the contractors.
About R200-million was spent in the last financial year on infrastructure maintenance, upgrades and refurbishment.
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