Recovers 775 stranded containers from 800 units
Admin l Saturday, July 20, 2019
ABUJA, Nigeria – The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said it is set to raise transmission wheeling capacity to 10,000 megawatts (MW) this year by re-conducting seven critical lines nationwide.
The Managing Director/CEO of TCN, Usman Gur Mohammed, who revealed this on Wednesday in Abuja at the Company’s Quarterly Press Conference, said by December 2018, TCN had achieved 8,100MW wheeling capacity and hopes to step it up this year.
To attain the 10,000MW, Mohammed said TCN is procuring quad conductor, a high capacity conductor that could carry more bulk power capacity on the same transmission line.
According to him, “the conductors which we procure are lighter than the current conductors and can carry two and half times more power. Half of these conductors are arriving Nigeria on the 27th of this month.”
The seven critical lines include Onitsha-Awka-Oji River lines, the Ikeja West-Alimosho-Ogba-Ota line, and the Alimosho-Alausa line. The rest are, Kaduna-Zaria-Funtua-Gusau line, Birnin Kebbi-Sokoto, Aba-Itu, and Kumbotso-DanAgundi 132kV transmission line. Upon completion of those 132kV transmission lines re-conducting projects, Mohammed said that “we are going to recover between 2000 and 3,000MW which means the grid will shift from 8,100MW to at least 10,000MW.”
Mohammed also gave updates on some critical transmission projects the Company was executing with the $1.661 billion (dollars) multilateral donor funding it has secured, stating that there was need for the Distribution Companies (DisCos) to step up investments in their networks.
“We had a problem in Benin and Apo, these are some difficulties we have passed through, but the journey for stable grid is on track. Everything we are doing on the grid will amount to nothing except we have some investment on the side of distribution,” he noted.
He said TCN has recovered 775 stranded containers from 800 units abandoned for over 10 years at the ports. The contents he said, have been used to complete several substations including the brand new Damaturu, Maiduguri and Ilashe substations.
