By Emmanuel Addeh
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Tuesday disclosed that with its ongoing projects and the acquisition of a new office for its Project Implementation Units (PIUs), it is set to add about 4,000 megawatts wheeling capacity to the national power grid.
The Acting Managing Director of the company, Mr Sule Abdulaziz, who spoke in Abuja, explained that the PIUs are specialised units of TCN that ensure critical transmission line and substation projects are delivered within specification, quality and timeframe.
According to him, the four project units within the programme are being financed by donor agencies like the World Bank (WB), Agence Française de Developpment (AFD), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Abdulaziz added that the project units are already implementing projects that will add to TCN’s 8,100MW grid capacity, noting that the PIUs will promote efficiency in line with the goal of the current TCN management.
He noted that management was also making efforts in the mainstream TCN, which had enabled the company successfully transmit successive all-time generation peaks achieved in the power sector, with the latest being 5,801.60MW.
In his comments, the General Manager and Coordinator of the PIU office at TCN, Mr Joseph Ciroma, listed one of the projects as the Abuja Feeding Scheme, saying that the high voltage transmission feeding scheme is currently ongoing with all the six contracts under the project very effective.
“The project will bring an additional 330 kilovolts (kV) transmission line through Lafia, bringing to three the source of bulk power transmission into Abuja.
“The new Lafia line is an entirely green field (new) project. Also, the project will build five new transmission substations in the FCT, comprising two number 330kV substations and three number 132kV substations are all part of the ongoing Abuja Feeding Scheme project being executed simultaneously with the 330kV the transmission line.
“The additional bulk power supply into Abuja will ensure reliability and availability of power supply in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),” he stressed.
The World Bank project unit, Ciroma said, will address a nationwide transmission upgrade, while over 30 power transformers will be affected during the substations’ upgrade.
According to him, the 30MVA transformers will be replaced with 60MVA and 100MVA depending on the planned capacity upgrade for the substation, while the 30MVA transformers that would be removed, would be installed in areas with lower electricity demand, to add to the capacity of the network.
He stated that the AfDB project unit, on the other hand, will strengthen the 330kV Alaoji (Abia State) to Onitsha (Anambra) transmission line which currently evacuates only 400MW of power with capacity expected to increase to 1,200MW after “reconductoring” which is three times the current capacity.
AfDB is also expected to fund a new transmission line from Benin to Delta to increase power evacuation on the line route from 400MW to 1,200MW and also another 1,200MW capacity transmission line that would complement the 400MW capacity line running from Kaduna to Kano.
“The JICA-funded project unit targets transmission projects in Lagos and Ogun States where TCN will build four 330kV substations, two 132/33kV substations and four 120MW capacity 330kV transmission lines.
“These lines will also connect the West African Power Pool (WAPP) to enable Nigeria export more power when the projects are completed,” the TCN disclosed.
The company had recently installed a new 60MVA, 132/33kV power transformer which radiates three feeders, including the Usuma Dam, Dawaki and Deidei feeders in its Kubwa Substation, Abuja.
