The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said it is set to raise transmission wheeling capacity to 10,000 megawatts (MW) this year by re-conductoring seven critical lines nationwide.
The Managing Director/CEO of TCN, Mr Usman Gur Mohammed, who revealed this on Wednesday night in Abuja at a quarterly press conference, said by December 2018, TCN achieved an 8,100MW wheeling capacity and hopes to step it up this 2019.
To attain the 10,000MW, Mohammed said TCN is procuring quad conductor, a high capacity conductor that could carry more bulk power capacity on the same transmission line.
He said, “The conductors which we procure are lighter than the current conductors and can carry two and half times more power. Half of these conductors are arriving Nigeria on the 27th of this month.”
These seven critical lines include Onitsha-Awka-Oji River lines, the Ikeja West-Alimosho-Ogba-Ota line, and the Alimosho-Alausa line. The rest are, Kaduna-Zaria-Funtua-Gusau line, Birnin Kebbi-Sokoto, Aba-Itu, and Kumbotso-DanAgundi 132kV transmission line.
Upon completion of those 132kV transmission lines re-conductoring projects, Mohammed said: “By doing that, we are going to recover between 2000 and 3,000MW which means the grid will shift from 8,100MW to at least 10,000MW.”
Mr Mohammed also gave updates on some critical transmission projects TCN was executing with the $1.661 billion (dollars) multilateral donor funding it has secured.
Responding to questions by pressmen, he said there was need for the Distribution Companies (DisCos) to step up investments in their networks.
“We had a problem in Benin and Apo, these are some difficulties we have passed through, but the journey for stable grid is on track. Everything we are doing on the grid will amount to nothing except we have some investment on the side of distribution,” he noted.
On the other achievements of TCN, he said TCN has recovered 775 stranded containers from 800 units abandoned for over 10 years at the ports.
The contents have been used to complete several substations including the brand new Damaturu, Maiduguri and Ilashe substations.
