By Mary Izuaka

 

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Tuesday said there was a forced outage on the Alaoji 132kV Transmission Line.

The TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, in a statement, said the outage occurred at about 3:59 a.m. on Tuesday due to an earth fault and distance protection failure.

Ms Mbah said the TCN’s maintenance crew have since swung into action and is currently working on the line to ensure that normal bulk power supply is restored as quickly as possible.

Consequently, she said the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) has been unable to off-take electricity supply for distribution to its customers in Owerri, Yenagoa, and Ahoada.

“TCN apologises for any inconvenience this outage will cause affected electricity customers,” she said.

Last month, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) announced the restoration of the 450-megawatt Alaoji Open Cycle Power Plant in Abia State after it was shut down over gas supply and metering disputes.

Alaoji power plant is one of the ten National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) plants managed by the NDPHC.

Located in Alaiyi, a community near Aba in Abia State, South-Eastern Nigeria. It is proposed as a combined cycle plant with an installed capacity of 1,074MW (at ISO) on completion.

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The open cycle of the project was commissioned in March 2015, but the combined cycle part has faced some delays.

Earlier in March, the NDPHC said the power plant project is now at 16 per cent completion.

In May, the NDPHC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Jennifer Adighije, disclosed during a meeting with the Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, where she briefed the governor on efforts taken by the company to revive the power plant that the plant was shut down in 2023 after disparities emerged between metering and trading points, leading gas supplier TotalEnergies to suspend supply to the facility, while debts also accumulated.

She said that upon assuming office in 2024, the restoration of the plant became a priority for the company.

“The good news is that we have carried out and fixed all the remedial works on the defective gas line. We’ve also been able to completely defray our past-due obligations to Total, and Total has restored gas supply to the plant,” Ms Adighije said at the time.