The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced a significant power outage affecting several communities in Northern Nigeria, attributed to faults in its 330kV Ugwaji–Apir Double Circuit transmission lines 1 and 2.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, explained that the outages impacted areas in the North-east, North-west, and parts of North-central Nigeria.
The incident began around 4:53 a.m. when the Ugwuaji–Markurdi 330kV Line 2 tripped, causing 243 MW of power to be transferred to Line 1. Shortly thereafter, at 4:58 a.m., Line 1 also tripped, resulting in a total loss of 468 MW. Attempts to restore the lines at approximately 5:15 a.m. and 5:17 a.m. were unsuccessful, as both lines tripped again on the same relay indication.
To address the issue, TCN has dispatched teams of linesmen from both the Apir and Enugu transmission regions to trace the fault along the 215 km route, which includes 245 transmission towers. Mbah reported that the Apir team faced challenging terrain during their patrol and had reached as far as the River Benue, but were unable to locate the fault. They continued their search early the following morning.
Additionally, the Enugu region’s patrol team faced delays due to a sit-at-home directive in the South-East on October 21st and 22nd, which affected their operations and refueling of patrol vehicles. However, security arrangements have since been made to facilitate their efforts, allowing them to commence fault tracing.
Currently, TCN has managed to restore power to the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir, but the 330kV lines remain out of service, continuing to impact power supply in the Northern region. Compounding the issue, the TCN Shiroro-Mando transmission line is also down due to security concerns, further contributing to the outages.
