WINDHOEK – Nampower has confirmed that the power outage that was experienced at the town of Opuwo and surrounding areas last weekend was due to vandalism on the 66 kV line running from the town of Ruacana to Opuwo.
According to a Nampower statement 47 glass insulators were damaged, 30 of which were damaged at Otjipahuriro and 17 at Omahukuzeva. The line was however re-energised at 10h37 on Monday morning, after all the insulators were replaced. “The Opuwo 66kV line runs through very mountainous terrain, which made finding the fault along the length of the line (110 km) extremely difficult and time consuming,” according to the Nampower statement.
Meanwhile, the national power utility noted that vandalism is a matter of extreme concern and while it continues to educate the nation about the importance of protecting the national grid and the dangers of vandalism, it appears that this needs to be reinforced through various additional means.
Nampower added that it will continue to update the public as to the progress being made in this regard, and apologized to its customers and the public in general for the inconvenience caused during that time.
By Staff Reporter