Forty (40) major road intersections in George are free from Eskom’s load shedding, planned and unplanned power outages and the traffic flow continues seamlessly. Thanks to the installation of the Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) units that energising the traffic lights during outages.
The Electro-Technical Services team has successfully completed phase 1 of the UPS installation project. The installed UPS which amounted to R2.5 million, makes use of batteries that are charged via our electrical supply. The UPS which is eco-friendly and energy saving, automatically kicks in and operates the traffic lights should the electrical supply be interrupted for any reason with an average duration of 4 hours, before the battery needs recharging.
“This is certainly a game changer at the major traffic intersections in George during peak hour loadshedding. The UPS housing is IP65 rated which allows it to be water and dust proof,” said the Executive Mayor Ald Leon van Wyk. “The measure is one of several sustainable energy solutions the municipality is introducing to reduce the impacts associated with loadshedding, including traffic congestion and human resources such as traffic pointsmen.”
The Director for Electro-Technical Services, Mr Bongani Mandla commended the relatively small traffic lights team, who with a specialised skills set and commitment to service delivery address ongoing faults and maintenance at all traffic light intersections in the George area.
More UPS are to be installed in the remining traffic lights in the coming in the 2022-2023 financial year.