The Department of Environment and Infrastructure officially launched Heriotdale Substation, as another new electrical infrastructure.
Department of Environment and Infrastructure Nico de Jager said the substation will ensure that stability is added to City Power’s grid in the City of Johannesburg.
“The construction of this substation, which cost R187 million started in 2015/6 financial year and the entire project was completed in 2019. Heriotdale Substation construction applied as a needed additional capacity and constrained power supply emanated from Cleveland Substation. The load that was carried by Cleveland Substation will now be shared between two substations”, he said.
De Jager added that the substation will supply areas on the southern side of the M2 freeway including South Hills, Steeldale and City Deep.
“Cleveland Substation will supply areas on the northern side of the freeway such as Benrose, Denver and Jeppestown as well as surrounding areas. Heriotdale is built with interconnectivity mechanism between itself and Cleveland through 88kv overhead line. It is a resource to City Power which transfers power load from one substation to the other. This ensures speedy power restoration to customers and minimise the duration of power outage”, he added.
De Jager said protection and control room is fitted with Scada, Direct Current (DC) system and telecommunications equipment. He added that they are important to monitor, gather and process real-time data in order to convey messages to City Power technicians for early detection of faults on the network.
“Heriotdale Substation will also provide 50MVA capacity towards the repairs and renovations happening on the M2 freeway development. More residents will have access to electricity and a reliable supply. The substation addresses outages experienced by residents, businesses and industries especially in the south-eastern parts of Johannesburg. This is due to age and condition of Cleveland Substation. The construction of the substation is part of City Power’s afford to upgrade, build and refurbish the electricity network across the city.
