Kaduna, Funtua power substation restored after fire incident – TCN
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says it has successfully restored bulk electricity supply to Funtua Transmission Substation, Kaduna State, after the fire incident which emanated from a faulty 33kV armoured cable from KEDCO 33kV feeder burnt alongside the cable.
The station which is adjoining TCN substation, caught fire, damaging TCN’s protection and control panel of 7.5MVA, 132/33kV transformer in its substation.
In a statement signed by the General Manager (Public Affairs), Mrs Ndidi Mba said that the incident took place at about 17:48hrs on Saturday when a big explosion sound accompanied by very thick smoke and blinding flame started on the upriver of Dandume 33kV feeder belonging to KEDCO in Funtua.
According to the Ndidi, the incident was attributed to earth fault resulting from the faulty 33kV armoured cable in the adjoining KEDCO station.
Prior to the incident, TCN said that KEDCO had taken planned outage from Zaria132/33kV Transmission Substation, this caused loss of supply to Funtua 132/33kV Transmission Substation as Funtua Substation takes supply from Zaria Substation.
“At 1724hrs, 33kV Dandume feeder Circuit Breaker was closed and supply restored to the 30MVA, 7.5MVA and 132/33kV Transformers in Funtua from Zaria Transmission Substation, after the successful completion of the job, before the fire incident,” said the statement.
TCN commended efforts of the Katsina State Fire Service, Funtua for their prompt response to the site of the incident, saying that they prevented the fire from escalating and doing greater damage to the substation.
Noting that immediately after the fire was put off, a combined team of TCN engineers from its Gusau and Mando Work Centres commenced work to effect repairs and restore supply to Funtua Transmission Substation.
The 30MVA transformer in Funtua Substation has been restored to service while the 7.5MVA capacity transformer is yet to be restored.
Funtua currently has normal power supply but may experience slight load shedding until the 7.5MVA transformer is also restored.
According to the statement, this is not the first time a DisCo would be footing the loss of TCN’s installations.
The release also noted that that the only way the massive investments TCN is making in the nation’s transmission grid would be felt by electricity consumers nationwide would be if the DisCos start making appropriate and extensive investments in their distribution networks.
