By Surihe Gaomas
WINDHOEK
Heavy thunderstorms in Aries, South Africa, close to the Namibian border caused an unexpected power outage in Namibia yesterday.
The electricity blackout that hit the country for about half an hour was experienced around 12h32 yesterday.
In a press statement yesterday, NamPower Manager of Marketing and Corporate Communications, John Kaimu, said the blackout, which affected the whole of Namibia, “was caused by the tripped 400-kilovolt breakers at Aries (South Africa) feeding Kokerboom and Aggeneis (South Africa)”.
At the time of the power outage Namibia was importing all its power, about 355 megawatts from Aries and Aggeneis transmission station.
“The cause of the trip was due to heavy thunderstorms in the vicinity of Aries transmission station,” said Kaimu.
Power supply to the southern and eastern parts of the country was restored at 13h18, followed by the central and northern parts at 13h21.
“By 14h50 NamPower’s technicians were still working to restore supply to the remaining two major customers, namely Scorpion Mine and Rosh Pinah.
“The power supply situation to the rest of Namibia is now back to normal,” said Kaimu, adding that all customers and the public will be kept informed about any developments regarding the power supply situation.
He said this is the first time that Namibia has experienced a complete blackout, ever since the ongoing challenge of a power supply shortage in the Southern African Region.
“It’s the first of its kind because of the thunderstorms and these are rare incidents,” said Kaimu, adding that it was still raining heavily in South Africa’s Aries area.
Aries power station is situated just below the Orange River bordering Namibia and South Africa in the Namaqualand area in Northern Cape.
Besides Namibia, some smaller areas of South Africa also experienced a power outage, especially those around Aries and Aggeneis transmission power stations.
Kaimu reassured that there is no need for the public to panic over this brief incident, or about the general power supply shortage facing Southern Africa.