May deadline given as work commences on damaged 330kv transmission tower in Akwa Ibom

Solomon Ezeme

Following a nationwide grid collapse that occurred on Friday April 8, due to an alleged attack on the Odukpani Ikot Ekpene 330kV double circuit Transmission Line in Akwa Ibom State, EnergyDay has gathered that the affected facility will be energised on or before first week of May, this was credited to the pace of work by the engineers on-site.

This assurance was given by a worker on site when our correspondent visited the site on Wednesday.

The Engineer who would not like to be quoted by the press as he was not authorised to speak on the matter, disclosed that they were mobilised to the site with a target to complete the installation at the scheduled date.

The source who described the tower collapse as a ‘sabotage’, explained that power supply will be restored to areas affected by the collapse on or before the 1st week of May, 2022.

Ndidi Mbah, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) General Manager, Public Affairs, in a telephone conversation with EnergyDay for the validation of the statement of the Engineer , confirmed that efforts are being made to energise the facility.

She failed to provide further updates on the affected facility, promising to get back to our correspondent after receiving additional briefs from the site.

Engr. Dr. Sule Abdulaziz, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of TCN, who undertook on-the-spot assessment of the vandalized facility last week, urged the host communities to join government in the fight against vandalism of our collective assets, by reporting suspicious activities around its operations to TCN offices or security operatives.

EnergyDay in a recent investigation on the impact of the damage on the grid system reported that the collapsed transmission line resulted in about 88.72% drop in power transmission network, from 4,093.7MW on Friday, April 8 to 461.8MW on Saturday, April 9.

Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu, Minister of Power, in a statement after the incident also disclosed that power on the grid will be restored sequentially by the System Operator as other on-grid power plants are being dispatched to cover the lost generation capacity.