Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) yesterday reported a collapse of five of its electricity towers in parts of Lagos following an inferno from a vandalised pipeline along Isheri Olofin, off Igbando – LASU Expressway.
A statement by TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, said the development caused massive damage to the 330kV Ikeja-West Akangba transmission Line 1, burning off a large portion of the conductor.
According to the TCN, this triggered a resistant pull on the high-tension towers along the line route causing five of them to collapse.
The incident which is estimated to have occurred at about 00.29 in the early hours of yesterday, burnt a wide portion of the 330kV transmission line which wheels 145MW of bulk power to the Akangba substation.
The company disclosed that the transmission towers affected were the two closest to the site of the incident and three across the Lagos canal. “As a result of the incident, there is a major reduction of bulk power wheeled to TCN’s 330/132/33kV Akangba Transmission Substation in Lagos.
“However, due to the fact that the substation takes supply from two different 330kV transmission lines, with the second being the redundant line, TCN will rearrange bulk electricity transmitted on that line route to the second 330kV previously carrying 59MW,” Mbah noted.
She added that presently, the TCN was successfully back-feeding the substations affected by the towers collapse, while the engineers were patrolling the second 330kV transmission line that tripped due to the incident, to ensure it had no fault before it is energised.
“Once it is energised, supply will be restored to all the substations affected by the incident from the second 330kV transmission line, as the load carried by the burnt 330kV line will now be transferred to the second line,” the company stressed.
It added that the incident was a major setback to the implementation of its grid expansion and stability under its “well-articulated” Electricity Grid Maintenance, Expansion and Rehabilitation Programme.
TCN noted that this was because the re-erection of five towers and restringing of the 330kV transmission line is a major project that costs a lot of money and will take a while to complete.
TCN appealed to Nigerians to desist from activities such as oil bunkering, and other destructive tendencies, as they all have very far-reaching negative effects on the nation at large.
“The issue of protecting our national assets is imperative. Protecting national assets is one that must be taken very seriously so that the stability of the nation’s network and the development of the nation is not compromised,” the government-owned company stated.
