BROADBAND
6.2.4.6 Electricity
Bulk electricity to the municipal area is supplied by Eskom from the 400kV Aurora Substation. From there it is distributed by 132kV power lines to the Eskom Blouwater Bay Substation. Traditionally Eskom supplied the area east of the Sishen-Saldanha railway line with the exclusion of the Hopefield and Langebaan residential areas. Eskom also supply the St Helena Bay area and the Mykonos area. Saldanha Bay Municipality traditionally supplied the area west of the railway line, Hopefield and Langebaan.
The municipality has 4 points where bulk electricity is purchased from Eskom for redistribution. The main point is at the Eskom Duferco substation where we have two 66kV supply points (Notified Demand of 40MVA) and two 11kV supply points (Notified Demand of 3MVA). From these 66kV supply points we supply Vredenburg and the Paternoster area on one feeder and Saldanha and Jacobs Bay area on the other feeder.
We supply the Saldok area from the 11kV feeders. The second supply point is at 11KV at the Eskom Langebaan Substation with a notified demand
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on 10MVA. The third is on a rural Eskom 11kV line at Hopefield with a notified demand of 3.2MVA. The fourth point is on an Eskom Rural 11kV line at the old Chemfos mine. The notified demand is only 0.2MVA.
The two main Plans governing the work to be done on the electrical network and supporting infrastructure are the Electrical Network Development Plan and the Electricity Maintenance plan.
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LECTRICALN
ETWORKD
EVELOPMENTP
LAN:
The “Electrical Network Development Plan for the Saldanha Bay Municipal Area of Supply” dated 25 April 2014 is the current master plan in use. It was resolved by council decision R20/8-14 that it be used as guideline for expansion of the electrical networks on 28 August 2016.
The primary purpose of the studies in the plan was to analyse the existing network with the aim of understanding the current electrical capacity of each individual network and to identify possible limitations for the short and medium term network expansions due to natural growth and proposed new developments. A load flow analysis performed on the existing 66kV and 11kV networks revealed that the overall network is in a fairly good condition considering the age of the infrastructure. The spatial development framework for the Saldanha Bay Municipality area of supply is based on analysing three scenarios: low, medium and high growth. Natural growth, as well as various known loads from new developments was simulated to determine what effect on the network would be for a timeline of 5 – 10 years (2019 – 2024). Problem areas were addressed and possible alternatives proposed. The plan is scenario based and the projects identified will depend on the actual growth situations. Only the main substation related projects are directly costed in the document, but other smaller network upgrading is covered in the document.
The following documents need to be read in conjunction with this Network Development Plan:
Electricity Infrastructure Master Plan – May 2012 (SCADA System with integrated Electricity Infrastructure Master Plan) – SBM Document
Electrical Reticulation Masterplan for Langebaan – July 2009 – SBM Document
Bulk Infrastructure Review for Saldanha IDZ (Electricity) – SBIDZ document
Housing Growth Scenarios (Electrical) –April 2015 – Departmental plan
Vredenburg Urban Renewal Project – April 2013 – SBM Document
Local Government Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Strategy - November 2014 – SALGA Document
Western Cape Climate Change Mitigation Scenarios exercise for the Energy Sector – March 2015 – WCG Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Document
Western Cape Climate Change Response Strategy –March 2016 - WCG Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Document
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The major limiting factor to future growth in the area will be the availability of supply capacity on the Eskom owned Duferco substation with
±15MVA of firm capacity still available. Network strengthening and new build distribution capacity on the Eskom networks will therefore also have to be created within the Saldanha Bay Municipal area of supply. The effect of Small Scale Embedded Generation (SSEG) on the form of Photo Voltaic (PV) rooftop generation is not worked into the current plan. When the plan need to upgraded/reviewed in 2019, this will have to form an integral part of the plan.
When we look at the order of magnitude of some of the expected major developments that could come to the area, the master plan does not cater for the bulk infrastructure and the expansions that need to be made to the Eskom bulk infrastructure. In terms of the development criteria, the developers have to pay for the bulk and connector infrastructure as well as for the internal infrastructure of the development. It is therefore assumed that these will be handled on an individual base and the cost will be for the developer. No special provision will be made before the time into the normal municipal budgets.
The major projects for the next five-year period will be the following:
Completion of the upgrade of the Vredenburg 66/11kV substation – R7 500 000
The building of the Marais Industries 66/11kV substation referred to in the planning as strengthening for Jacobs Bay area.
The preparation for a new intake substation in the Saldanha Industrial area. Linked to this there will be upgrading of the 11kV line and cable networks to cater for the growth in the residential and commercial existing developments.
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LECTRICITYM
AINTENANCEP
LAN:
The Electricity Maintenance Plan on the “Onkey” computer system from PRAGMA is the main maintenance plan currently in use. It was noted by council decision R32/8-14 that the plan be implemented from June 2014.
The purpose of this plan is to provide a structured guideline for doing maintenance on the Electrical Network and associated equipment. Using the asset register it will ensure that the required maintenance is done to keep the equipment properly functioning during its expected life and where possible extending the life span of the equipment. It will also assist with complying with GRAP 17.
Since the implementation we have continuously been developing the system to the stage where it would be able to provide job cards for the required maintenance and record the feedback on the system for future reference. With the change of the municipal financial system to MUNSOFT, the continuation of the licence fee for PRAGMA the software was stopped. The idea is to incorporate the functionality into the asset management module of MUNSOFT. This process must start as soon as the asset management module of MUNSOFT if fully functioning.
The plan and the implementation of the job card issuing need to be revised for the new system. In the intern period the hard copy of the plan will be used as a guideline for manual maintenance planning.
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In addition to the routine maintenance the long term refurbishment of the electrical network and equipment need to be continued. This include the refurbishment and replacement of the following based on the condition of the equipment:
Old and rusted street light equipment,
Replacement of metering kiosks and pillar boxes,
Replacement of corroded conductor and hardware on overhead lines,
Re-conducting high risk copper lines to mitigate the risk,
Replacement of old technology oil switchgear with modern technology equipment,
Replacement of old mini-substations to refurbish then for re-use in the network.
The NERSA audit that was done during May 2016, and the comments and findings in the audit report will be the base for this work. The audit report also referred to not having sufficient staff to do the required maintenance and this will also have to be addressed as part of the budget processes.