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Tag: Transmission Company of Nigeria

  • Boko Haram insurgents strike Molai sub-station, Maiduguri

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Thursday said its 330/132kV transmission substation at Molai in Maiduguri, Borno State was attacked by insurgents on the 7th of May, 2019, at about 5:30pm.

    In a statement signed by the General Manager (Public Affairs) Ndidi Mbah, TCN said that during the attack, 2 No Post Isolators Porcelain units were affected.

    The cracks were however not too deep as to affect supply to the substation.

    Two Hilux vans and one vehicle belonging to a staff of TCN were destroyed while insurgents made away with the third Hilux Van.

    Other items destroyed include hiab truck, computer, monitor and printer in the control room.

    The windows of the Control Room and staff house were also shattered by gun shots.

    According to the statement, the operator on duty did exceptionally well by opening the transmission lines from the substation and shutting down the station before quickly leaving just before the insurgents reached the substation.

    After the incident, TCN engineers did a thorough check of the substation equipment before restoration on Wednesday 8th May 2019 at 9.31Hrs

    The company commended efforts of security operatives who have continued to make it possible for its operators to run the substation.

    It appealed for more deployments to the area to further boost the morale of workers who have been unrelenting in ensuring that electricity supply is sustained in Maiduguri and environs despite the risks.

    The 330/132/33kV Molai Transmission Substation was completed and energized October 25th, 2018.

     It was formally commissioned on 13th February, 2019.

    The substation comprises 150MVA and 60MVA power transformers which feed Yola Disco customers in Maiduguri and environs.

    The company reiterated its commitment to implementing the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Program under which some level of investment and consequently stability has been achieved.

  • Bagudu approves N154m to boost power supply

    Kebbi State Governor Abubakar Bagudu has approved release of N154 million to KEDCO to boost its revenue base of acquiring power from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

    The move was to ensure stable electricity supply to towns and villages especially the state capital, Birin-Kebbi.

    A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Abubakar Mu’azu Dakingari explained Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development Alhaji Nura Usman Kangiwa stated Bagudu acknowledged the importance of electricity supply as the pillar of economic development.

    The commissioner assured the governor would continue to accord utmost priority to the sector.

    Kangiwa pledged the state government would sustain its benevolence of providing financial backup to aid the revenue collection capacity of KEDCO to discharge its duty of power distribution efficiently and effectively.

    Consequently, he once again advised consumers of electricity to maintain regular payment of their bills to ensure the provision of electricity supply on 24 hours basis.

    The Commissioner pointed out 40 transformers have been installed in all parts of the state and about 80 new ones were purchased to boost regular electricity supply to all communities.

  • TCN’s capacity utilisation dips to 14.8%

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has raised concern over the reduction in the load utilisation of its distributor company in Odogunyan substation, Ikorodu, Lagos State  to 14.8 per cent.

    Its Assistant General Manager, Transmission Egbin Sub-region, Ajiboye Oluwagbenga who conducted the Federal Ministry of Power inspection team from Abuja, explained that although the 132/33KVA substation has 96megawatt (Mw) load allocation, it is currently grossly under-utilised.

    He said there was high hope for demand for the load when the TCN was constructing the plant but the Ikeja Electric which is the major distributor of the power is now rejecting the load and rendering the plant almost idle.

    He said: “It is a 2*60MVA. It was commissioned by the minister on May, 7 2018. Presently our projection about the loading is not being met. We have 2*60MVA which is equivalent to 96Mw. But currently we are just making about 14Mw. This morning it was on 20Mw but now it is on 14Mw, translating to about 14.8 per cent loading.”

    The major target of the power consumer which is Mega Steel was utilising 28Mw upon the commissioning of the project last year, but he noted that the dwindling economy has compelled the firm to reduce its demand for power.

    According to him, before the completion of the Odogunyan project, the TCN was only wheeling power from a 132KV single line between Ikorodu and Sagamu, called 132KV single line.

    He said: “With the connection of Ikorodu-Sagamu to double circuit, there is need for additional bay at Ikorodu since it is going to be additional line now. We need to have the second bay. It is the one that is being constructed by these people. The bay which is the expansion project is almost 95 per cent. Every equipment has been tested. This one will take just one day to fix this thing back. If was with Odogunyan project and it was awarded  in 2010. Its commencement was 2011-2012 while completion and commissioning was in May 2018. The line will be completed in July this year. It is a different project.”

    At the Odogunyan substation, the Principal Manager, System Operation Area Control, Mr. Adeniyi Adeleke appealed to the Federal Government to draft armed security personnel from the Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to take over the surveillance of the power plant.

    He told the inspection team that was on a fact finding mission that there are no Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in the substation.

    He said: “We don’t have issues with the community presently but the security situation is not okay. We will appreciate a situation where we can have law enforcement agents here 24/7 guarding the station, equipment and the personnel. We will really appreciate that. We don’t have CCT in this station. Robbers had entered here and we didn’t know where they came in from.

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    shortage of manpower and lack of operation vehicles in the substation.

    Continuing, he recalled: “On Sunday We are supposed to have five staff but we have only three. We are just managing and people find it difficult to go on leave. Imagining only two people running this substation, which operates everyday.

    “They are three in the station and somebody must have some rest. We need more hands. We need training programmes for our staff. We don’t even have official vehicles to run the station.”

  • TCN wheels 4,613.5mw daily energy peak to GenCos

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Saturday announced that power sector has achieved a new daily grid energy peak of 110,724.93MWH (4,613.5mw) on Wednesday.

    This is an improvement on the previous maximum daily grid energy peak of 109,372,01MWH (4,557.1mw) attained over two years ago on the 2nd of February 2016.

    In a statement by the General Manager (Public Affairs), Ndidi Mbah, TCN said that the new maximum daily energy peak is much higher than the last one attained over two years ago by 1,352.92MWH.

    TCN explained the maximum daily grid energy of 110,724.93MWH is different from the peak grid generation (power) of 5,375.0MW attained on February 7, 2019.

    The maximum daily grid energy refers to the quantum of energy that is wheeled from generators to distribution load centers nationwide throughout a whole day (00.00Hrs 24:00Hrs).

    This is measured in Maga Watts Hour, while the peak grid generation (power), which is a singular reading or high point in grid generation, is measured in Megawatts.

    According to the statement, the new maximum daily energy and the peak generation (power) show TC has enhanced capacity and capability to wheel and transmit more power, over time, into the grid, provided the Distribution companies are ready to serve the load to electricity consumers.

    It is also evidence the ongoing Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Program (TREP) being executed by TCN is paying off.

    TCN noted that the success of TREP is in line with this administration’s incremental power policy and that it is poised to continue to play its role in the power sector value chain as well as ensure that its grid expansion plan is implemented on time.

    Implementation of TREP, it said, is tied to its 20 Year Least Cost Transmission Expansion Master Plan, aimed at systematically expanding the nation’s transmission grid.

  • TCN gets approval to evacuate power from Mambila

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Monday revealed it has received an approval to evacuate power from the Mambila Hydro Power Plant.

    Describing the Mambila Power Project as part of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) projects, TCN CEO, Mr. Mohammed Gur Usman stated: “We have got approval to evacuate Mambila through Eastern Back Bone.”

    Speaking with The Nation in his office at Abuja, he said that the approval was from the December 22, 2018 meeting of the ECOWAS Heads of States.

    In the meeting, he said, there was an approval of the updated version of the WAPP 2018 Master Plan of priority projects.

    The TCN boss noted one of the priority projects starts from Calabar and ends in Kano.

    His words: “One of the priority projects is the Eastern Backbone which will start from Calabar and end in Kano.

    “It is 330KV double socket. That project will enable us to connect with Central African Power Pool through Ikom. It will also send power to the most neglected parts of Nigeria.”

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    The most neglected parts, according to him, are northern Cross River and Taraba State.

    He explained the Mambila hydro is part of the WAPP project that has come up with an updated study for energy to be evacuated from where it is cheaper to where it is more expensive.

    Nigeria, he said, is the largest trader of electricity in West Africa and the updated study is seeking to evacuate energy to Central African Power Pool and North Africa Power pool.

    This, according to him, requires transmission line in the east of Nigeria.

    He opened up on the issue of electricity distribution in the Benin axis, saying that it has enough of power the Benin Electricity Company (BEDC) is not demanding for.

    He said that “I can tell you generally that we have a lot of power that BEDC is not taking.”

    According to him, most of the distribution companies were sold to firms that lack experience and capacity to raise sufficient investments.

    The TCN boss, who revealed two transformers were blown-up in Benin two months ago, revealed the Benin DisCo admitted that one of the last transformers that sparked there was caused by them.

    According to him: “Benin DisCo admitted that one of the last transformers that got spoilt in Benin was caused by them.

    “They even wrote to us to say they are willing to fix it. The point is that do you fix a transformer in one day? So we have to carry a transformer from somewhere and fix it.

    “The problem we have with most of the distribution companies is that we sold our companies to mostly to companies that have no experience. And they don’t have capacity to raise enough investments.”

    He insisted the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission should approve an extraordinary tariff review for the operation of the company.

    He said that the organization needs the up review to meet up with its liability.

    According to him, TCN needs a cost reflective tariff to repay the loan it took from multilateral donor agencies.

  • TCN restores power supply to North East

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said that it successfully restored electricity supply to the North Eastern states of Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Taraba, Adamawa and Borno today, the 24th of September, 2018, after the Jos- Gombe 330kV transmission line tripped on fault.

    In a statement signed by the General Manager (Public Affairs), Ndidi Mbah, TCN said that the engineering maintenance crew completed patrol of the Jos axis of the transmission line on Monday, but was unable to complete the Gombe axis due to time, as it became dark. Today however the transmission lines patrol crew completed the remaining partpatrol of the Gombe axis by 10:24am and energized the line by 11:30am Tuesday.

    Read Also: TCN boosts electricity to Auchi, Okpella

    With the completion of the line trace and resolution of the fault, normal transmission of electricity through the Jos-Gombe transmission line to the six North Eastern States previously affected by the line was restored.

    TCN expressed gratitude to the Governors and good people of the North Eastern States for their patience and understanding during the period of the outage and pledged to continue to work to ensure continued expansion of the transmission network as well as ensure prompt resolution to any fault on the nation’s transmission network.

  • Power generation now 2,982mw

    The Independent System Operator of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said that power generation as at 6:00am rose marginally from  2,670Mega Watts (mw) Monday to 2,982mw on Tuesday.

    According to the Daily Operational report on the website of the S.O, which made this disclosure, the peak generation was 4,656.6mw  Monday, while the 2,670mw was the lowest power generation.

    The report noted that 86,687mw/h (3,611mw) was the energy recorded on Monday. On frequency, the report said that the highest frequency was 50.74Hz, while the lowest system frequency recorded was 49.98Hz.

    The highest voltage recorded was 350kv while the lowest voltage recorded was 300kv.

    The Nation however learnt from an insider who pleaded not to be mentioned that the decline in power generation was due to the picketing of Egbin Generation Company by the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE).

    The source noted that he could speak officially because of the union’s unrest.

    But the union’s General Secretary, Comrade Joe Ajaero confirmed the exercise in a text message to The Nation.

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) General Manager Media, Mrs. Vivian Mbonu, who however, told The Nation to allow her time to find out the cause of the dip in power generation, never responded.

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    With a second call to request for her response, she told our correspondent that “I have sent the question to our commissioner.”

    The spokesperson of the Association of Power Generation Companies Barrister Joy Ogaji that was called for explanation never responded to the call. She also refused to respond to the message to her Whatsaap line seeking explanation for the drop in power generation.

    Only a fortnight ago the Association of Nigeria Electricity Distributors (ANED), issued a statement to disproved the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola that the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) has a supply capacity of 7,000mw.

    Speaking at the monthly power sector stakeholders meeting in Minna, Niger State, the minister attributed the rise in power production from 4,000mw to 7,000mw to the N701billion Payment Assurance Guarantee intervention for the Generation Companies (GenCos).

  • Power supply: TCN to build 1,320KVA stations in Ogun

    Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Thursday said it would boost the power supply in Ogun State with construction of four substations of 330KVA capacity each across the state.

    The sub – stations which are sited in Ogijo (Sagamu), Agbara, Mountain of Fire Ministry area by the Lagos – Ibadan expressway  and Arigbajo(Ifo) would be completed soon.

    The TCN’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Gur Mohammed, disclosed this at the Official inauguration of the new 60MVA, 132/33KV transformer by  Governor Ibikunle Amosun,  at the TCN Transmission substation, Ijebu – Ode, Ogun State.

    The Governor was represented at the occasion  by his Chief of Staff, Chief Tolu Odebiyi.

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    Mohammed explained that the need to build the four substations was predicated on the increasing energy requirements of the state following its industrialising status and the socioeconomic life of the people.

    On the newly installed 60MVA 132/33 KV transformer, he said the project increased the existing 48MW – power substation in Ijebu – Ode to 96 MW and reduced the load shedding being experienced within Ijebuland and its environs.

    According to him the civil and installation works on the new facility were carried out by TCN staff of Osogbo transmission region when the Indian firm  contracted to do the job, failed to deliver the after the contract was awarded since 2012 under the  World Bank sponsored project at the cost of nine million US dollars (N166m)

  • NNPC restores ruptured pipeline, gas supply to generating plants

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Tuesday in Lagos said gas supply to generating stations had built up gradually after the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) restored a ruptured pipeline.

    Mrs Ndidi Mbah, General Manager, Public Affairs of TCN, said within a day power supply would be restored to normal.

    Mbah said an indication that gas supply had improved was the increase in power generation into the National Grid to 3,876.9 Megawatts as at 17.00hrs on Monday, as reported by National Control Centre (NCC).

    “TCN wishes to use this opportunity to commend NNPC, especially Nigerian Gas Corporation (NGC) for the quick intervention.

    “The company also appreciates the Ministry of Power, Generation Companies (GENCOs), Distribution Companies (DISCOs) and electricity customers for their cooperation during the crises period,” she said.

    According to Mbah, as soon as the gas build up is completed, the affected generating stations would resume normal generation into the National Grid.

    The general manager said through the implementation of Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme, TCN was building new substations as well as upgrading existing ones and transmission lines all over the country.

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    “This is expected to further stabilise the Grid and also put necessary flexibility and redundancy in line with N-1 capacity.

    “TCN will continue to count on all Nigerians for support and understanding as it continues to expand the nations’ grid,” she said in a statement.

    TCN said on June 15, that rupture of a major NGC pipeline had scuttled the delivery of gas to six power plants.

    It said this led to a drop in power generation by 1,087 megawatts and compelled the company to embark on load-shedding.

    It stated that the load-shedding was adopted to maintain stability of the national grid, thus avoiding total power system collapse.

    The affected power stations included Ihovbor, Azura, Omotosho gas, Geregu gas, Olorunsogo gas, Sapele and Egbin Power Station, which has managed to generate 60MW only on each of its units, losing a total of 211MW.

    Also, Afam VI power station was shut down to enable Shell resolve its gas well issues and commence gas supply to Afam VI power station.

  • TCN says efforts on to repair Awka transmission station

    TCN says efforts on to repair Awka transmission station

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria ( TCN ) says the transmission station in Agu-Awka, Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra is being repaired to restore power supply to the state capital.

    The fault has thrown the state capital and its environs into darkness for over one month.

    Mr Abdulkareem Labaran, the Assistant General Manager (Operations) in Enugu office of TCN said on Tuesday in Awka that repairs were already on in the transmission station.

    Labaran appealed to electricity consumers in the areas affected by the blackout for more time and gave an assurance that engineers were working round the clock to restore the station to normalcy.

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    He said the problem was not vandalism-related but normal technical issue.

    Labaran, however, did not give a specific time within which the repairs work would be concluded.

    “Work is going on and we are monitoring the development. I am sure in the shortest time the whole thing will be over.

    “I cannot give you a definite time because it is a technical issue. In fact, we ought to have completed it last week but as we were about finishing, another problem developed.

    “We are appealing that they give us more time. Our men are there working round the clock and throughout the week.

    “It is a peculiar case because the transformer is a mobile one and what they are working on is inbuilt unlike the other normal ones.

    “Where the spare parts are not available, our men apply ingenuity by fabricating,’’ he said.

    The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company ( EEDC ), however, exonerated itself from being responsible for the outage in the area.

    Mr Chukwuemeka Ezeh, the Head of EEDC Communication Department told NAN that the power outage experienced in Awka was as a result of a breaker fault at the TCN Station, Awka.

    “This affected supply to our Agu Awka Injection Substation, which feeds Awka and other neighbouring towns.

    “It is important to stress that this is not EEDC’s fault but that of TCN,’’ he said.

    Reports say that a team of engineers were seen working on the faulty transmission station when visited on Tuesday.

    NAN