The failure of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to fix the 132kv breaker at Akangba Transmission station in Suru Lere, Lagos, has further compounded the electricity supply situation in the state.
The areas affected are Apapa, Orile and some parts of Ijora. Apapa is home to two of Nigeria’s busiest sea ports and several factories which are groaning, because power supply has become almost nil, as a result of the TCN’s inability to transmit power to them on account of a faulty 132 kv breaker.
With a faulty breaker, it would be difficult for electricity to be transferred to a switch yard, where power is further sent to local transformers which in return supply the various facilities, as well as residential quarters.
Consequently, a lot of the residents and commercial concerns have to depend on their diesel generators to power their homes and offices, almost 18 hours a day.
Tom Yowha, an officer of TCN, who spoke with BusinessDay, admitted that there was a problem at Akangba station, but said it did not affect supply to areas supposed to be serviced by the transmission station.
Yowha added that efforts were being made to fix the problem.
“There is no restriction as regards electricity supply, as there are other channels such as Ojo and Agbara, through which we reach our customers. If there are supply restrictions, it has to do with low generation,”he said.
A lot of transmission interface issues and inadequate grid capacity resulting in instability of power supply system have been the order of the day in recent times in most parts of Lagos.
The faulty 132 kv breaker has caused the transmission station to back feed its customers through Ikeja -West and Agbara, and this has resulted in poor power supply because of technical losses experienced on account of distance. Aside from the Akangba Transmission Station which has been having major challenges , a good number of the TCN transmission stations in Lagos area have become so bad that some of the distributions companies have offered to take up the responsibility of fixing those within their operational areas and recouping their money from TCN later.
Sourcing fund to repair these equipment has been a challenge to the company.
Eko Electricity Distribution plc, reacting to the situation, told BusinessDay that it was partnering with TCN to execute interface projects that would enhance wheeling and distribution capabilities.
Oladele Amoda, the managing director of Eko Electricity Distribution plc explained that his company’s intervention had become necessary because more transformers were being installed in the network which must be serviced regularly with supply.
‘’Several distribution and power transformers are being added in phases and at various locations”, he said.
He added that over 200 new distribution transformers and three 15MVA 33/11 power transformers had been installed, while about 120 refurbished distribution transformers had also been made functional.
OLUSOLA BELLO
No comments:
Post a Comment