12-19-2019, 11:59 AM
TCN insists 10,000MW wheeling capacity feasible by July 2020
Usman Mohammed
Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has said the country would record a wheeling capacity of 10,000 megawatts (MW) by July 2020.
Managing Director of the agency, Usman Mohammed, who stated that the company installed 68 transformers nationwide since 2017, said increasing the capacity is feasible by next year. He however stressed on the need to improve the capacity of the power Distribution Companies (DisCos) to enable them to evacuate more power should the upgrade come on stream.
The implication of the increase “means that we can generate electricity, create employment for our people and earn foreign exchange. We create an electricity market that is sustainable and that would actually help the growth of our GDP and the economy,” Mohammed said.
Reportedly, wheeling in electricity is the transportation of electric energy (megawatt-hours) from within an electrical grid to an electrical load outside the grid boundaries, especially distribution companies.
The agency had set 2020 target to boost power transmission wheeling capacity to 10,000 megawatts (MW), as part of a Transmission Master Plan.TCN had last year, said it has about 8,100MW transmission capacity, but in the real sense, only an average 4,00MW is wheeled to consumer making most stakeholders to believe the target was fabricated for political propaganda as power supply in Nigeria has remained epileptic.
Giving run down of the company’s activities in the year, Mohammed said massive milestones were achieved between February 2017 and October 2019 through the implementation of the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP).Mohammed said TCN helped the country in debt recovery from international customers, stating that the debt for the Republics of Benin and Togo reduced from $100 million to $7m, adding that Niger Republic owe below $2m.
He said: “Electricity is not charity. We cannot allow people to consume electricity and leave us like that; they pay. We are also determined that they complete the payment. In fact, as at now, we have restricted their supply to only their contractual debts and we are insisting that they pay all their outstanding before we reconnect them.”
To him, the TREP would increase bulk power transmission wheeling capacity from 6,500MW to 10,000MW in 2020 and reaching 20,000MW by 2021.Disclosing some of the conductors to be used in boosting the capacity are already in the country, Mohammed said: “We believe that by June, July we should be able to complete those reconductoring and come up with that capacity.”
Usman Mohammed
Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has said the country would record a wheeling capacity of 10,000 megawatts (MW) by July 2020.
Managing Director of the agency, Usman Mohammed, who stated that the company installed 68 transformers nationwide since 2017, said increasing the capacity is feasible by next year. He however stressed on the need to improve the capacity of the power Distribution Companies (DisCos) to enable them to evacuate more power should the upgrade come on stream.
The implication of the increase “means that we can generate electricity, create employment for our people and earn foreign exchange. We create an electricity market that is sustainable and that would actually help the growth of our GDP and the economy,” Mohammed said.
Reportedly, wheeling in electricity is the transportation of electric energy (megawatt-hours) from within an electrical grid to an electrical load outside the grid boundaries, especially distribution companies.
The agency had set 2020 target to boost power transmission wheeling capacity to 10,000 megawatts (MW), as part of a Transmission Master Plan.TCN had last year, said it has about 8,100MW transmission capacity, but in the real sense, only an average 4,00MW is wheeled to consumer making most stakeholders to believe the target was fabricated for political propaganda as power supply in Nigeria has remained epileptic.
Giving run down of the company’s activities in the year, Mohammed said massive milestones were achieved between February 2017 and October 2019 through the implementation of the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP).Mohammed said TCN helped the country in debt recovery from international customers, stating that the debt for the Republics of Benin and Togo reduced from $100 million to $7m, adding that Niger Republic owe below $2m.
He said: “Electricity is not charity. We cannot allow people to consume electricity and leave us like that; they pay. We are also determined that they complete the payment. In fact, as at now, we have restricted their supply to only their contractual debts and we are insisting that they pay all their outstanding before we reconnect them.”
To him, the TREP would increase bulk power transmission wheeling capacity from 6,500MW to 10,000MW in 2020 and reaching 20,000MW by 2021.Disclosing some of the conductors to be used in boosting the capacity are already in the country, Mohammed said: “We believe that by June, July we should be able to complete those reconductoring and come up with that capacity.”