There will again be rolling blackouts in the Western Cape on Tuesday, Eskom announced in a news release.
This was necessitated by multiple line faults that occurred at 2.13am that interrupted power to the province.
”The Droërivier-Bacchus high-voltage transmission line (400kV) that runs between Beaufort West and Worcester tripped,” Eskom said.
”This caused an over-voltage on the network, resulting in several other transmission lines in the Western Cape network tripping. Power supply to the Western Cape and some parts of the Northern Cape was interrupted.”
Koeberg power station responded to the unusual activity on the network and removed itself from the national electricity grid. Koeberg unit two is currently not generating electricity.
”At 2.23am, the northern ring of the Cape transmission network was stabilised and restored. Power supply to the Northern Cape and some parts of the Western Cape was restored.”
An Eskom mobile team was dispatched to go on site to investigate the cause of the fault that resulted in the tripping of the Droërivier-Bacchus transmission line.
There would be more load shedding in the Western Cape on Tuesday.
Metrorail appealed to commuters in the Western Cape to find alternative forms of transport as early-morning power outages disrupted train services.
”The train service is very erratic this morning. Commuters should make their own transport arrangements, at least for the morning peak,” Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott said.
”If anyone is stuck on a train somewhere, do not disembark until you are given instructions to do so. Commuters should not worry about getting to work late as we will inform major employers of the problem.”
Scott said the Chamber of Business would be advised and would in turn inform its members that some employees would be late for work.
”Everyone knows of the outages. It’s an Eskom problem; we cannot do anything.”
Motorists were warned to exercise caution on the roads as traffic lights in the City Bowl area, Rondebosch, Newlands, Parow, Goodwood and Elsiesrivier were not working. — Sapa