TCN Locates Fault On Ugwaji-Apir Line, Mobilises For Repairs
By SUNDAY ABBA, Abuja
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says its team of linesmen has discovered the fault on the Ugwuaji–Apir 330kV Double Circuit transmission line that recently caused forced power outage in most parts of the North at about 5pm on Wednesday in the Igumale area of Benue State.
The fault area of the transmission line, which measures about one span, was found to be a snapped 330kV transmission line located in the swampy forest of Igumale, a statement signed by TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, disclosed.
Reiterating its commitment to promptly restoring normalcy, TCN, while appreciating the patience of the government and electricity customers in the affected states, and appealing for more in the mean time, said it had started mobilising to the site for the repair work.
“Due to the difficult and swampy nature of the terrain, TCN would require to move a bulldozer and other materials for the repair works from Enugu Regional office of TCN to the site of the incident. A Hiab vehicle would also be moved to Igumale to help TCN properly tension the transmission line.
“Recall that on the Monday, 21st of October, 2024, the 215KM Uguwaji – Apir Double Circuit transmission line tripped due to fault, causing forced power outage across the North East and North West and parts of the North Central regions of the nation. Previous attempts by two dispatched teams to locate the cause of the forced outage were unsuccessful until this evening,” the statement added.
TCN had explained in a statement earlier, that two teams of its linesmen, one from the Apir Transmission sub-region and another from the Enugu transmission, that were deployed to expedite fault tracing along the 215 km route, with a view to restoring the lines promptly, were continuing their search as at Tuesday morning after all efforts to locate the fault spot on Monday failed due to some extraneous factors.
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It however, on a positive note, added that
it had restored supply to the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir even as the 330kV lines remain out of service, but regretted that the Shiroro-Mando transmission line was also down due to security reasons, impacting power supply in the Northern region.
In recent years, the Nigerian power sector has continued to experience many challenges including but not limited to poor governance, gas and transmission system constraints, and significant power supply shortfall, barring the initial talk expectation among stakeholders after the upstream and the downstream of the industry was privatised in November 2013 as a way forward to incremental and stable quality power supply in the country.
However, decrying a situation whereby almost every system failure is allegedly attributed to TCN’s weakness, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MD/CEO, of TCN, Sule Abdulaziz, during a live TV interview recently, cautioned that TCN should not be held solely responsible for the frequent national grid collapse in the country as it could be caused by issues with the other segments along the value chain.