The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has said it would require over two million US dollars to replace the burnt transformer following the fire that gutted its 66 Mega Volt Amp(MVA) at Alagbon Injection Substation, Lagos.
The TCN’s Managing Director, Usman Mohammed, told journalists that rejection of load by Distribution Companies (DISCOs) was responsible for the fire at the substation.
According to the Managing Director, preliminary investigation conducted revealed that there was sudden reduction in load in Lagos.
In his words, “Before the rain started early in the morning, the load of Lagos stood at 1,000 megawatts(mw) before it suddenly dropped to 200mw when the rain started.
“Now when there is sudden drop like this, what will happen is that there will be high voltage in the place.
“When you have high voltage it is either you have entire system collapse or you have some equipment giving way.”
“This morning what happened was that the lightening arrester which supposed to withstand the high voltage give way and there was explosion,” he said.
Mohammed said that DISCOs had not been expanding their network while TCN had been working on its network.
“We are connected to one another, if DISCOs are not expanding their distribution network, it will affect transmission.
“When transmission is able to mobilise investment and expand its network, DISCOs are not expanding its network and we are connected to one another.
“It is just like husband and wife, what affects wife will affect the husband,” he said.
