The Transmission Company of Nigeria says the Alaoji–Owerri 132kV Transmission Lines 1 and 2 have been restored to service.
The two lines were energised at 7:05 p.m. and 7:06 p.m on Wednesday. TCN’s spokeswoman, Ndidi Mbah, announced this in a statement on Wednesday.
Mbah said that the lines tripped on Tuesday, and upon identification of the fault location, TCN’s maintenance crew immediately mobilised to the site and commenced repair works.
She said that following the successful repair of the fault on Line 1, the line was restored to service on Tuesday at about 7.25 p.m., enabling partial restoration of bulk electricity transmission to Imo, Bayelsa (Yenagoa), and parts of Rivers (Ahoda).
”To facilitate the safe repair of Line 2, it became necessary to temporarily de-energise Line 1. This was due to the close proximity of the two high-voltage transmission lines and can induce electromagnetic induction on the faulty line when the adjacent line remains energised, thereby posing a safety risk to TCN ‘s maintenance engineers.
”The temporary outage of Line 1 was approved by the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) and undertaken with the concurrence of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) and the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC),” she said.
This precautionary measure provided the safe working space required for TCN engineers to complete repairs and restore Line 2 to service.
Mbah said that with the successful restoration of both lines, the Alaoji–Owerri transmission corridor was fully operational. EEDC and PHEDC can now offtake full load for onward distribution to their customers.
She said that TCN appreciates the patience and understanding of electricity consumers affected by the outage and regrets the inconvenience caused.
According to her, the company remains committed to maintaining a reliable and efficient transmission network to evacuate and deliver bulk electricity across the country.