The nation is set to witness more electricity blackout as an inferno caused by a fuel tanker crash has destroyed a major transmission line and 12 towers in Ugheli, Delta State.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, which confirmed the development in a statement yesterday, stated that the accident occurred along the line route as the tanker caught fire between towers 88 and 89 at about 9:42am on Sunday, 9th March, 2014.
The firm said about N1bn would be needed to replace the lost line and towers.
“The fire caused the melting and snapping of all of the line conductors between the two towers causing a loss of balance along the transmission line, swinging of towers, which resulted in their eventual collapse. Tower 81 did not collapse but was bent by the incident,” TCN said in a statement signed by the General Manager (Public Affairs), Mrs. Seun Olagunju.
The statement noted that the loaded tanker which overturned and caught fire at Ogborode Junction, near Warri destroyed the 330kV Sapele- Ughelli transmission line and brought down TCN’s towers No 82 to 93 along its route.
It stated: “With the collapse of the 12 towers, TCN has temporarily lost power evacuation from that line as all power generated by Delta and Sapele Power Stations would now only be evacuated through the second 500MW capacity 330kV transmission line from Ughelli to Benin.”
The transmission limitation notwithstanding, the company assured that the second 330kv transmission line from Ughelli to Benin and the 132kv transmission lines one and two from Benin to Ughelli, will adequately evacuate power generated from the power stations to Benin. The firm stated that it has put in place plans to ensure that the transmission lines are free of encumbrances to ensure continued efficient wheeling of power generated.
TCN stated that its engineering team and transmission contractors are already at the accident site to assess the level of damage to the system with the view to putting in place quick remedial plans, pending the re-construction of the 12 transmission towers. The firm also stated that it has put in place security operatives, to guard the collapsed tower from vandals.
The company pleaded with vehicle drivers, especially those ones with highly inflammable items such as petrol to drive with care and also to ensure that their vehicles are in good order always, to avoid such massive losses to the company and the nation.
The TCN also pledged to do all it can to reconstruct the 330kv transmission line as quickly as possible to check further losses to the nation. Investigations showed that power supply has already worsened in Ugheli and its environs as a result of the accident. The nation’s epileptic electricity situation worsened over the weekend following another fire outbreak at the power transformer at the TCN Oshogbo Work Centre.
The development affected steady electricity supply to Akure, Ilesha, Ife, Ondo, Osogbo, Ado-Ekiti and Iwo. TCN, which confirmed the accident, had stated, “A 150MVA, 330/132/33kvpower transformer in the Osogbo Sub- regional/ Work Center office of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) was gutted by fire in the early hours of Friday, 7th March, 2014.
“Consequently, parts of Akure, Ilesha, Ife, Ondo, Osogbo Complex, Ado- Ekiti and Iwo are now experiencing power rationing.” The firm stated that the fire which started after an explosive sound was heard from the 150MVA power transformer, raged for most part of the morning, but was successfully extinguished by the fire service, preventing it from spreading to the other transformers.
The firm stated that the second 150MVA, 330/132kV power transformer in the sub-regional office however tripped during the incident but was not affected by the fire. “TCN’s Protection, Control and Metering (PC&M) engineers worked tirelessly to re-arrange the 132kv lines taking supply from the station, in such a way that the effect of load shedding in all the affected areas would be minimised.
“With this arrangement, one of the feeders was diverted to Ganmo 330/132/33kv substation, while the remaining three would now be fed from the second 150MVA power transformer that was not affected by the fire incident,” TCN said.
The firm stated that all the affected towns would experience minimal load shedding as soon as the station’s second 150MVA power was restored. Already, power supply across the country has been epileptic as a result of inadequate gas supply to thermal plants, including Egbin which is the biggest in Africa.
This has caused a significant drop in generation from over 4,248mw to 3,200mw. For example, Egbin which generated 900mw a few weeks ago can only generate 600mw at the moment.
The Managing Director of Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Mike Uzoigwe said the plant, which has the capacity to generate over 1,000mw of electricity has been badly affected by the adequate gas supply. Other plants have different challenges.
For instance, some major units of Kainji plant, including 1G 5, 1G 6, 1G7, 1G8, 1G9, 1G10 and 1G11 were down for maintenance. The Jebba plant also has major issues. Its 2G5 and 2G6 units were due for rehabilitation.
The Shiroro plant suffered a setback as its 411G1 unit was down for maintenance. Unit 4111G4 of the plant was also out for water management. The ST1 unit of Sapele power plant suffered a major water leakage in its boiler feed pump.
Other units, including ST3, 4 and 5 were also out because of fault. Delta power plant has a generator winding fault in its GT3 and 5. The GT7 was shut because of leakage while the GT 19 was down for maintenance.
Other units such as GT11 and 15 experienced high vibration and turbine blade failure respectively. The Afam plant also recorded some problems. For instance, its GT2 was down while GT3 suffered high vibration.
Also, GT4, 5, 17, 18 and 19 were affected as a result of various operational constraints. The Geregu plant suffered a setback in its GT 12 and 13 due mainly to low gas pressure while units GT2 and 3 of Omotosho were out because of some challenges. The Omotosho (NIPP) was shut because of gas constraint while the GT1 unit of Ihovbor plant was shut as a result of another fault.
The Olorunshogo plant suffered a setback in its GT5 and 6 because of poor transformer and vibration respectively. The GT4 unit of Olorunshogo (NIPP) was shut for maintenance. Units GT21 and 22 of Geregu (NIPP) witnessed low gas pressure because of limited supply of the product. The GT1 unit of Alaoji (NIPP) was shut for water injection test.
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