The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says that currently it has installed capacity to transmit 8,100mw of the about 13,000mw of electricity being generated nationwide.
The company’s General Manager for Port Harcourt Region, Dr Thomas Inugonum, who gave this hint on Sunday in the Rivers State capital explained that the company was supposed to be able to transmit about 15,000mw, but it had not been able to meet this capacity due to weak and ageing infrastructure.
According to him, some of the infrastructure are constructed more than 50 years ago even as he lamented the rising incidents of attacks on TCN’s facilities by criminals and appealed to the media to sensitise and create awareness of the consequences of destroying those facilities.
He explained: “In some of our stations, vandals have cut earth-conductors of big transformers that cost about N800 million resulting in the ‘floating’ of the facility.
“There are projects that have been on-going for almost 20 years in Okigwe and Mbano in Imo, and in other places that could not be completed partly because of vandalism.
“We do not understand why people vandalise our facilities considering the importance of power supply to economic activities.
“If transmission power lines are vandalised, and in the process, it falls on top of about 100 houses, no occupant of those houses would survive”, Inugonum added.
Citing the daily attacks on TCN facilities in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Imo and Rivers as examples, the TCN’s top official lamented that were impacting negatively on efforts to supply uninterrupted electricity.
“In just two months, we have lost several of our transmission lines in Odukpani (Cross River) and in Elelenwo in Rivers.
“A 60mva cost about N1.2 billion, while a span of 132kv of our transmission line cost about 330,000 dollars, making our losses unquantifiable and humongous when vandalised.
“It is unfortunate that people vandalise facilities worth billions of naira only to melt the metals to construct gates, pots, and cups. It is just wickedness,’’ Inugonum lamented.
While hinting that 23 power projects are at various stages of completion in the six states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Imo and Rivers, Inugonum explained that the projects were partly funded by the TCN, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, and the World Bank and were being executed under the National Integrated Power Project of the Federal Government.
According to him, apart from the 23 projects on-going in the six states, there are 15 other completed projects and three are at proposition stage in the states.
He elaborated: “The on-going projects are the `re-conductoring’ of the 18km Main-Port Harcourt 132kv DC line and installation of 100mva 132/33KV transformers with 80mw capacity in Port Harcourt.
“In Afam, also in Rivers, we have six on-going projects which include the Afam-Onne 330kv DC lines.
“We also have the Afam-Ikot Ekpene 330 DC lines in Akwa Ibom, while in Aba, we are `re-conductoring’ 10km Alaoji-Aba 132kv DC line.
“In Ugep, Cross River, construction of 2x60mva 132kv substation with capacity to generate 96mw is on-going and the construction of 2x60mva 132/33kv station is in ground-breaking phase”, the General Manager stressed
Inugonum added that the installation of 100mva 132/33kv transformer with 80mw capacity in Itu, Akwa Ibom, sponsored by the World Bank had attained five per cent completion and that “the erosion control at T20 in Eket-Ikot Abasi 132kv DC line had reached 20% completion level.
In addition, he told journalists that “in Owerri, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company is upgrading its 132kv to 330kv sub-station with 2x150mva 330/132kv transformers and 2x60mva 132kv transformer and 33kv switchyard, among other projects.”
