Power supplied to electricity distribution companies (DisCos) from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) last Sunday dipped to 3,682 megawatts (Mw) .
It shed 372Mw from the 4,054.07Mw of November 11, according to Power Statistic that the Federal Ministry of Power posted on its website yesterday.
During the period under review, the electricity generation companies (GenCos) generated 3,754.96Mw but the TCN recorded 72.64Mw spinning reserve. The statistics also showed that power generation in the period under review dropped by 383.4Mw from the 4,138.36Mw generated on November 11.
The electricity market however recorded a peak energy generation of 4,810.7 Mw while the peak energy generation was 4,498.3Mw on November 11.
TCN has however said Tower no 62, along the Okpai-Onitsha 330kV double circuit transmission line, evacuating power from the Okpai Power Station in Delta State, has been vandalised.
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.
“At about 4:51 am on Tuesday, 10th November, 2015, the Okpai – Onitsha 330kV transmission line tripped and the cause of the tripping was traced to tower No 62, which had been vandalised. Two of the four legs of the transmission tower were cut by vandals, causing the tower to hang precariously. This 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,” the statement explained.
It added that TCN management and its quick response engineering crew inspected the site of the incident, located in the swampy forest of Asaba Uchi, same day, and have already mobilised a reputable engineering contracting firm to anchor the transmission tower temporarily, to avoid total collapse. Anchoring the vandalised tower will enable TCN energise one of the circuits on the tower, to enable it recommence partial power evacuation from the Okapi Power Station to the national grid. This is expected to be achieved within a fortnight, the statement added.
It further noted that TCN will construct a new tower to replace the vandalised tower but due to the swampy nature of the site, construction could only commence in the dry season when vehicular access is possible.
