Nigerian Government speeds up AFD-funded substations, transmission lines in Abuja
… sets to end FCT’s power evacuation issues in next 50 years
Oredola Adeola
The Nigerian Government has restated commitment to the delivery of the French Development Agency, AFD-funded reinforcement of high-voltage transmission ring project around Abuja, tagged: “Abuja Feeding Scheme”, within the shortest possible time.
This was revealed by Engr. Sule Abdulaziz, Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), on Wednesday in Abuja while inspecting the level of work done on the projects in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
EnergyDay gathered that the Abuja transmission scheme is almost two years behind completion schedule, as the completion timeline was originally scheduled for maximum of 24 months after taking-off in April 2019.
At the end of the project, TCN is expected to now operate four(4) 330kV and three 132kV substations with the new installations of 143 kilometers of 330 Kilo Volts (KVs) and 81 kilometers of 132 KV transmission lines in Abuja and its environs thereby adding 817 Megawatts (MWs) of electricity to the national grid.
The TCN MD revealed that the project which belonged to TCN and was referred to as the Abuja Feeding Scheme was being funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), a donor agency.
He said when completed, it would contribute an additional 1. 465km of transmission lines to the grid, thereby, upgrading and reinforcing the electrical power supply to the FCT.
He said, “With the additional lines, TCN capacity of transmission lines will be higher than what is in existence and this means that in the future, we can build some sub-stations without upgrading the lines,” he said.
“This is part of efforts to increase transmission wheeling capacity in the FCT and environs.
“The project is categorised into six lots and is far advanced in execution above 85 percent in total completion by December,” he said.
Abdulaziz said that the project was designed to address all the power transmission bottlenecks in FCT and its environment permanently in the next 50 years.
He said, “This will be adequate and it will serve the population of Abuja.
“The government while making plans for the project has in mind that if the population of FCT increases within five to 10 years, there is a master plan that the station will serve the territory in the next 50 years.“Construction of complete new 2x60MVA, 132/33 KV substation with 132KV line Bays at Wumba/Lokogoma including about 5km 132 underground XLPE Cable from New Apo Sub Station are ongoing,” he said.
The TCN who also inspected the ongoing work New Apo substation bemoaned the slow pace of work done by General Electric(GE) the contractor in charge of the construction of the 2x150MVA 330/132/33KV substation at New Apo.
He said GE has performed abysmally, adding that the contracts for all the substations were signed at the same time. He noted that the contractor does not have a genuine reason for the slow pace of work.He said, “We have spent a lot of money to clear their containers which entered demurrage and this money is not part of AFD grant but TCN Internally Generated Revenue which could have been used for other projects.
“We are going to push them to finish the project on time,‘’ Engr. Abdulaziz said.
The TCN boss also visited the ongoing construction of a complete new 2x60Mega Volt-Ampere and 132/33KV Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) Substation at Gwarimpa, as well as the Kuje 132Kv Transmission line, the 3x60MVA, 132/33kv and 4x132kv Line bay GIS, and 33KV Metal Chad Switchgear at West Main Lugbe Substation.
