The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said that the National Grid successfully transmitted a new generation peak of 5,375MW on February 7.
The TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, in a statement in Abuja on Monday, said it was the first time the nation’s power grid generated, transmitted and distributed such quantum of power.
She said the attainment of new national peak in power generation, transmission and distribution was a clear indication of the success of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s policy on incremental power.
Mbah said the generation peak of 5,224MW, which was also successfully transmitted by TCN, was attained on December 18, 2017.
“This has now been surpassed by the new peak of 5,375MW,’’ she said.
According to her, the present capacity of Generation Companies (GenCos) nationwide is 7,450MW, which is expected to significantly increase with the expected recovery of all the generators at Egbin plant by the management of Sahara Energy.
“The capacity of transmission based on the simulation of December 2018 is 8,100MW.
“Since the last simulation, several transformers have been added to transmission,’’ she said.
Mbah said with the new combined peak, distribution companies (DisCos) had also increased their capacity.
She, however, said more work was needed to improve the distribution capacities to fully stabilise the sector.
The TCN spokesperson said the company had continued to upgrade critical transmission infrastructure nationwide with the commissioning of more than 40 power transformers and lines in 2017 and 2018.
She said the company had also constructed seven new substations and was diligently pursuing its Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP).
“As at date, TCN’s wheeling capacity has increased from 5,000MW in 2016 to 7,124MW in 2017 and 8,100MW in 2018,’’ Mbah said.
She said TCN was not only focusing on grid expansion but also on the quality of the power.
The spokesperson said TCN achieved frequency control of between 49.50Hz and 50.50Hz between May 2017 and November 2018 which had not been achieved for the past 20 years.
Mwah said: “From December 2018 to date, TCN equally achieved the best frequency control of between 49.75Hz and 50.25Hz for 85 per cent of the time.’’
This, she said, was the best frequency ever witnessed in the history of the Nigerian power sector. (NAN)
