The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Monday announced the activation of the Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene 330kV Double Circuit (DC) transmission lines following the completion of repair works and re-erection of the vandalized tower 104 and lines.
The company’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, in a statement indicated that the lines were energized at about 8.41 pm last Sunday.
Following the completion of the repair works on the transmission lines, Mbah hinted that the TCN had commenced the evacuation of over 400MW stranded power generation from Odukpani Power plant to Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) for onward delivery to Cross River State and its environs.
The TCN spokesperson stated that the company’s Managing Director/CEO, Engr. Sule Abudulaziz, told some stakeholders in the power sector during a meeting in his office that the Odukpani power plant has been reconnected to the grid.
The TCN boss was quoted as saying that the engineering team and the contractor that handled the reconstruction project, worked tirelessly to re-erect the vandalized tower, fortify other vandalized towers along the same line route and also carried out the restringing of the 330kV double circuit transmission lines.
Abudulaziz noted that during the last visit of TCN management to the site of the tower incident on the 10th of May, 2022, to access the progress of work, TCN had promised to ensure that the project is completed and energized in one week.
He said: “We promised to complete and energize the double circuit transmission line in one week from our last visit, to ensure the evacuation of the stranded power from Odukpani Substation and to restore supply to electricity consumers in Cross-River State and environs, we have been able to complete and energize the line before the one week we promised.”
It would be recalled that the vandalism and collapse of tower 104 on April 8 this year caused the last system collapse causing over 400MW from the Odukpani Power plant to be stranded from the national grid.
The TCN’s engineers and contractor worked for over one month before they could restore bulk power to the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) for onward delivery to electricity customers in Cross River State and environs.
