Kano State: TCN Restores Power At Substations After Fire Incident
By Chioma Eche, Abuja
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says it has restored power supply to some of the areas taking supply from the transformers affected by the Dan Agundi Substation fire incident in Kano State, North-west Nigeria.
According to TCN’s General Manager Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, the electrical Engineering team isolated the transformers impacted by the incident and reconfigured some cables to facilitate power supply to three of the feeders for Kano DisCo customers, while work is ongoing to ensure full restoration to the rest of the feeders soonest.
She further said the incident, involving two 60MVA power transformers at the Kano transmission substation, was triggered by a sudden spark from the electrical oil pumping machine used to pump oil back into one of the 60MVA power transformers which had just undergone maintenance in the substation.
“Despite TCN’s safety staff’s efforts to extinguish the fire using industrial extinguishers, the fire persisted until it was contained through the collaborative efforts of the Kano fire service, TCN’s safety engineers and security personnel” Mrs Mbah said.
She stated that three feeders – Kurna, Buk, and one of the 15MVA power transformers – began receiving power supply from a 60MVA transformer, enabling Kano DisCo to distribute power to some customers.
Mrs Mbah said; “the remaining four feeders, namely Zaria, Club, CBN and the second 15MVA power transformer has also resume bulk power supply following repair works on a punctured cable initiated”
” We extend apologies to affected electricity customers for any inconvenience caused by this regrettable incident and appreciate their patience as efforts are made to ensure complete supply restoration.”
TCN has a redundancy of 100MVA transformer fully installed at the substation, which will undergo testing and energization to mitigate any potential bulk supply shortfall to Kano DisCo.
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu had recommended capital punishment for anyone caught vandalising electricity assets and critical infrastructure.
This assertion by the Minister followed the reoccurring vandalisation of electricity infrastructure, leading to disruption in the supply of power in the country.
“The Ministry of power and agencies under it is pushing for capital punishment for those involved in vandalisation and power thefts of all forms,” Adelabu said.
He further explained that the recommendation was part of the new power policy document that the Nigerian Government has been pushing through the National Assembly.
He also announced plans to increase power generation to at least 6,000 megawatts of electricity in the next two weeks.
The Minster further said that the current 3,000 to 4,000 megawatts generation was unacceptable, adding that the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company has been working out the final figures that would see to the payment of debts owed generation companies.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
