Yemisi Izuora
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is commencing rehabilitation and replacement of old circuit breakers on the country’s transmission network to improve bulk power transmission to distribution centres nationwide.
The work, which were officially flagged off at the 37-year-old 330/132kV Ajaokuta Substation in Kogi State, marks TCN’s determination to ensure that all circuit breakers in its network are certified healthy and perform optimally.
The decision to start with the circuit breakers in Ajaokuta Substation was due to the strategic role the substation plays in transmitting bulk electricity to distribution load centers of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and BEDC Electricity Plc, covering areas such as Abuja, Lokoja, Ayangba, Okene, Okpila and Benin, among others.
TCN’s efforts at rehabilitating the circuit breakers despite routine maintenance undertaken by in-house engineers is to ensure that they continue to perform optimally and eliminate any incident of sudden breakdown due to age. The exercise will be extended to all substations in the country whose circuit breakers are older than 20 years.
In line with TCN’s quest to further improve the capacity of its workforce, it assigned its engineers to work directly with the contractors to ensure hands-on training and practical skills transfer. Proper retrofitting or replacement of the circuit breakers will ensure that they operate optimally for the next 15 to 20 years.
Circuit breakers protect power transformers from any abnormal conditions or fault that may occur within or from outside the network. They also provide power supply flexibility in the substations’ switchyard when maintenance work is ongoing, without interrupting bulk power supply to distribution load centers in the grid.
The company said it will not relent in its efforts to maintain, repair and replace power transmission equipment, as well as install new ones to ensure a more stable and efficient transmission of bulk power to the distribution substations nationwide.