“We Regret The Inconvenience”, TCN Announces Construction Schedule As Heavy Wind Blows Down 3 Towers

• At least four states will suffer major disruptions to their power supply as a windstorm has blown down three transmission towers
• The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has deployed multiple contractors to the site to fix the problems and reerect the towers
• In the meantime, the electricity consumers in the affected states will have to depend on the alternate plans the TCN has put in place

Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.

There will be major disruptions in power supply across several states as the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced plans to re-erect three transmission towers.

The three towers along the 330kV Kainji-Birnin Kebbi Line were said to have collapsed earlier in May, after a heavy wind blew against the towers.

The affected transmission towers have cut supply to the Kaduna electricity distribution company, and could cause a delayed electricity disruption in Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states.

TCN announced that work has started already, and that three contractors were deployed to re-erect the towers to speed up the work, as each contractor works on a separate tower.

TCN said in its statement that this would minimize downtime and accelerate the restoration of power to the affected areas. It said;

“We regret the inconvenience caused by the tower collapse and are committed to restoring full supply as quickly as possible.”

What happens until construction is over

To mitigate the impact, the TCN has put plans in place to cushion the effect of the disruption of bulk power supply to Kaduna Disco.

Channels news reports that TCN re-routed some areas to get power supply from other transmission substations.

The TCN statement reads;

“Sokoto and Birnin Kebbi are currently receiving between 6 MW and 7 MW of bulk electricity from the Mando Transmission substation via the 132kV Mando-Zaria-Funtua-Gusau-Talata Mafara-Sokoto-Birnin Kebbi line.”

The company thanked the affected communities for their understanding and promised that the work would be accelerated to rebuild the towers and restore the 330kV transmission line.

TCN split into two companies

Legit.ng reported that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has been split up into two companies, marking a major step in the Nigerian government's efforts to modernise the nation's electrical industry.

The boards and management of the two entities, the Independent System Operator (ISO) and the Transmission Service Provider (TSP), were officially inaugurated last week.

This is happening more than 20 years after the TCN was established from the disbanded Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)

TCN warns of blackout as it commences maintenance

TCN has warned electricity consumers in Abuja and some other areas to expect a six-hour blackout following a scheduled maintenance on one of its transmission substations.

The planned maintenance will take place at the Lokoja 330/132/33kV Transmission Substation, and TCN announced that simultaneous maintenance will be done on the 60MVA 132/33kV transformer and 150MVA 330/132/33kV transformers.

Legit.ng reported that the power supply to Abuja Disco has been disrupted, with at least six affected areas where the electricity supply will be cut off.

Source: Legit.ng