By Energy Worth
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has promised that it would attain the capacity to transmit 20,000 megawatts of electricity to Nigerians by 2021.
TCN’s Managing Director, Mr. Usman Mohammed gave the assurance Monday, during the inauguration of the 1x60MVA, 132/33KV transformer substation in Akure, Ondo State capital.
He said the inauguration was in line with the policy of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on power.
Mohammed revealed that TCN is implementing the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP), which seeks to stabilise, expand and provide necessary redundancy, consistent with the international standard.
He said the programme is aimed at providing operational flexibility and reliability in delivering bulk power to the distribution companies, international customers and other classes of customers that are connected directly to the national grid.
“The capacity of the substation prior to this installation was 120MVA. This additional transformer, therefore, has raised the capacity of the substation to 180MVA.
“Currently, the Akure 330/132/33KV substation is about 95 per cent completed. This will eventually add another 120MVA to the existing capacity in Akure. I visited the station yesterday and I can confirm, it is one of the best in this country.
“The installation will also increase the total wheeling capacity of TCN, which was 7,124MW when it was last simulated in December 2017”, he said.
The TCN boss added that all bottlenecks confronting effective service delivery had been resolved.
Mohammed stressed that the installation of the1X60MVA 132/33KV transformer in Akure substation would lead to remarkable improvement in power supply in Akure metropolis and its environs, including Igbara-Oke, Oba-Ile, Iju and other areas.
The TCN boss, however, noted that the massive investment in the sector would not lead to significant improvement in the country unless the distribution companies also invest in rehabilitation and expansion of their networks.
He called on the distribution companies to invest in their network so that the massive investment by TCN and generation companies can lead to economic growth and development of Nigeria.
Speaking on the occasion, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu charged Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to utilise the opportunity offered by TCN to open up the sector.
“Power is a critical requirement in economic growth. The impact of power on education, health and other facets of life cannot be quantified. In Ondo State, we have had more than our fair share of the challenges of electricity.”
He lamented that there are many communities in Ondo South and Ondo North senatorial districts that had been off the national grid for several years.
“Our people are currently in running battles with the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (Benin Disco) following their disconnection over what has been termed pre and post-privatisation debts.
“In fact, there are communities that have not had access to electricity for close to 14 years while some have never experienced electricity at all. The people are daily losing faith in the ability of government to provide reliable and uninterrupted power for their use.”
Akeredolu, who kicked against the collective punitive measure by BEDC, listed several interventions by his administration such as the Independent Power Project (IPP) and mini-grid power plants built through an investor-financed-business model to solve the power problems, especially in the rural areas.
He, however, lauded the TCN and federal government for the proactive measures to stabilise and expand the sector, tasking BEDC on massive infrastructural and metering of their customers across the state.
