Power generation drops to 4,451 Megawatts

POWER generation, which hit a new record high of 4,883MW on Monday, has dropped to 4,451.05MW by the next day, Tuesday. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has attributed the drop to the disruption of tower no 62, along the Okpai-Onitsha 330kV double circuit transmission line, evacuating power from the Okpai Power Station in Delta State. It has been vandalised.

TCN had announced the achievement of a new record peak generation of 4883.9MW and the highest maximum daily energy delivery of 106,288.48MWH on Monday 23rd, November, 2015.

In a statement by the Asst. General Manager (Public Affairs), Clement Ezeolisah, the new peak generation was achieved at 21.15hours on Monday, November 23, 2015.

He noted that the previous peak generation was 4810.7MW attained on August 25, 2015. The previous highest maximum daily energy wheeled was 104,794.26MWH, attained on September 23, 2015.

But this celebration was cut short on Tuesday by activities of vandals.

According to the TCN, the incident, which took place at Asaba Uchi, Ndokwa East Local Government, has resulted in the reduction of available power to the national grid by about 480MW.

A statement by the company stated that the Okpai – Onitsha 330kV transmission line tripped and the cause of the tripping was traced to tower No 62, which had been vandalized. Two of the four legs of the transmission tower were cut by vandals, causing the tower to hang precariously.

This, it said, poses a major threat to transmission grid integrity as a total collapse of this tower could bring down several other towers along the transmission line route.

“TCN management and its quick response engineering crew inspected the site of the incident, located in the swampy forest of Asaba Uchi, the same day, and have already mobilized a reputable engineering contracting firm to anchor the transmission tower temporarily, to avoid total collapse.

Anchoring the vandalized tower will enable TCN energize one of the circuits on the tower, to enable it recommence partial power evacuation from the Okpai Power Station to the national grid. This is expected to be achieved within a fortnight”, it added.

The statement further noted that TCN will construct a new tower to replace the vandalized tower no 62, but that due to the swampy nature of the site, construction can only commence in the dry season when vehicular access is possible.

TCN reassures that it would continue to work towards a robust transmission grid, and pleads with all, especially its host communities, to work with the Company in its fight against the nefarious activities of vandals. The construction of a new tower it noted will cost the company millions of naira which would have been applied to its grid expansion plans.