By Teddy Nwanunobi, Abuja
No less than 450 megawatts of electricity have been trapped at the Afam V Power Station in Rivers State, following a fire incident, which completely destroyed the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)’s protection and control equipment in its relay and control room.
The fire incident, which occurred during the week, a statement said on Saturday, “has constrained the evacuation of guaranteed 450 megawatts generation by the Station”.
TCN General Manager (Public Affairs), Seun Olagunju, added that “the fire incident, which occurred at about 6:58 a.m., wholly destroyed TCN’s equipment at the Power Station”.
She also said that the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained as at the time of publishing this report.
“TCN’s quick response team, who were mobilised to the site of the incident, promptly isolated the faulty section of the substation, and made alternative arrangement for evacuation of power generated by Afam VI generation into the grid.
“Presently, the job has been successfully completed and the power station reconnected to the National Grid.
“TCN however pointed out that major cause of the current low power generation is not particularly the fire incident, but the vandalism of gas pipelines that resulted in short supply of gas to thermal power generating stations.
“The Company, however, reiterated its resolve to continue to work towards further expanding the nation’s transmission grid in line with its grid expansion plans,” the statement read.