By John Ikani
Thousands of households and businesses in Nigeria’s capital city Abuja and commercial hub Lagos State have been left with limited electricity supply due to ongoing repairs and upgrades in transmission facilities by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
TCN in a statement by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah at the weekend, explained that the on-going work in Lagos would replace the old and overloaded 132kV Ikeja West – Alimoso – Ogba – Alausa – Ota – Papalanto 240 Mega Watts transmission line with a new high capacity 500MW transmission line.
In Abuja, the nation’s capital, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) disclosed that its daily load intake has been reduced by 65 percent, following the commencement of the installation of the 2x60MVA 132/33kV Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) by the TCN in Gwarinpa area of the city.
AEDC General Manager, Corporate Communication, Mr. Oyebode Fadipe, said in a statement that the installation exercise is expected to last till 9th of November, 2021.
What the AEDC is saying about repairs/upgrade in Abuja
Fadipe explained that “as a result of this exercise by the TCN, AED Plc can only take 40MW out of the 140MW it hitherto received from TCN for distribution to customers fed from the Kubwa 2 X 60MVA 132/33kV transmission station (AT4). Kubwa TS serves Dawaki, Bwari, Deidei and Kubwa 33kV injection substations in Abuja. The 40MW is shared between Suleja and Kubwa transmission stations on the basis of 20MW each.
“In order not to keep the feeders out completely, the load carried by the Kubwa 2 X 60MVA 132/33kV substation has been diverted to the Suleja transmission station and this has led to the massive load shedding currently experienced by AED Plc customers who take power from the aforementioned feeders”.
The utility listed areas affected include Dawaki, Deidei, Kubwa, Gbazango, Suleja, Gwagwa, Iddu Karmo, parts of Life Camp and Gwarinpa, I-Pent Estate, EFAB Metropolis and Mab-Global Estate. Others are Zuba, Kaduna Road, Bwari, Dutse, Lower Usman Dam, Dantata Estate, Kubwa, Zuma, Gauraka, Dikko, Deidei International Building Materials Market and environs.
What the TCN is saying about repairs/upgrade in Lagos
TCN’s Spokesman Mbah said when completed, the upgrade would solve the problem of poor power supply in Ikeja West/Papalanto axis of Lagos State.
“Presently the five power stations along that line route have a total capacity of 570MW but it is only able to deliver 240MW because of the old undersized transmission line.
“As the area continues to experience continued increase in human population and socio-economic activities, the demand for electricity will continue to grow and if the line is left without upgrade, electricity supply would soon become impossible in the area,” she added.
TCN explained further that it had to take the hard decision of “re-conducting the old 132kV transmission line. But bearing in mind the importance of power supply, TCN is carrying out the line replacement work from 8am to 5pm daily, light is restored by 6pm in the evening to 8am in the morning daily. This is estimated to last for another four weeks from now”.
