A fire outbreak on Sunday afternoon has engulfed the 132/33 kilovolts (kV) Apo transmission substation in Abuja being operated by the transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
A statement from the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) which feeds directly from the substation to supply the end users said although the fire has been brought under control, a 45MVA transformer, based on preliminary information was lost to the fire.
“Our technical team is right now working with the TCN engineers to see how to absorb the load on the 45MVA transformer that was affected by the fire,” it noted.
A report from a power sector stakeholder, Kunle Olubiyo who had contacted the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola on the incident said the minister was aware of the incident.
“I am aware of the Apo Fire incident which occurred today affecting the transmission transformer and our staff are at site and on ground. Fire has been put out. Damages are being assessed and plans underway to redistribute power to communities served by the burnt/damaged transformer at Apo transmission substation,” Fashola had responded to Mr Olubiyo’s enquiry after the outbreak.
TCN is yet to issue an official position on the fire outbreak, but its officials said a statement is being prepared for issuance.