The National System Operator (NSO) has urged the public to refrain from flying kites underneath, near or around 220 kV and 132 kV high-voltage transmission lines, towers and grid substations.
The NSO said several transmission line outages have occurred after kites and kite strings became entangled with high-voltage transmission lines.
Such incidents can cause electrical faults and trigger the automatic tripping of transmission lines. The entangled kites and strings must also be manually removed under controlled and safe conditions, according to the NSO.
The incidents can have a serious impact on the stability and security of the national power system and may also lead to the tripping of generating units.
The NSO said that on September 2, incidents involving kites adversely affected power system stability, requiring selected distribution feeders to be switched off as an emergency measure to maintain system stability.
As a result, consumers connected to those feeders experienced temporary interruptions to their electricity supply.
The NSO therefore urged the public to avoid flying kites near high-voltage transmission lines, towers and grid substations, and to cooperate in ensuring the safe, reliable and uninterrupted operation of the national electricity system.
