By Constance Athekame
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says it has completed the reconductoring of its new 130 Kilometers (KM) 132 Kilovolt (KV) double circuit Sokoto – Birnin Kebbi transmission line.
Mrs Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General Manager Public Affairs, who made this known in a statement in Abuja on Saturday stated that the line was energised at about 4.35pm on April 13th.
Mbah said that the new high capacity 132kV transmission line which transverses 405 towers along the Birnin Kebbi – Sokoto line route, would now transmit about 170 Mega Watts (MW).
”This is more than double the 70MW capacity previously transmitted by the decommissioned old 132kV transmission line.
“The new 132kV transmission line has solved the low voltage and attendant poor power situation that used to be prevalent in the Sokoto axis.
“As TCN is now enabled to substantially transmit increased bulk power electricity to Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company’s distribution load centers in Sokoto and environs.
“This also means that Kaduna DisCo would equally be able to deliver more stable and quality power to its customers in that axis,” she said.
Mbah said that prior to the reconductoring of the line, the Sokoto – Birnin Kebbi 132kV transmission line, was overloaded due to increased demand.
She said that the overload arose from massive increase in human population and attendant socio-economic activities in the area.
According to her, the new line has solved the problem of overloading and has ample capacity for anticipated load increase.
“The project which commenced in November last year, was carried out in phases, in order to ameliorate the effect of scheduled outages on electricity consumers during the period.
“Some areas did not experience outage through the period as they were back fed through another line,” she said.
She said that TCN was grateful to the government and people of Sokoto and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, for their patience and cooperation during the period of the transmission line reconductoring.
NAN
