Power Outages Hit Northern Nigeria: TCN Points to 330KV Line Issues

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has attributed the ongoing power outages in Northern Nigeria to the tripping of its 330 Kilo Volt (KV) Ugwaji–Apir Double Circuit transmission lines 1 and 2. These faults have disrupted electricity supply to the North-East, North-West, and parts of the North-Central region.

In a statement released on Tuesday, TCN spokeswoman Ndidi Mbah explained that the outage began on Monday when both transmission lines tripped off due to a fault. At approximately 4:53 a.m., the Ugwuaji–Markurdi 330kV Line 2 went offline, transferring the 243MW load to Line 1. However, just minutes later, at 4:58 a.m., Line 1 also tripped off, leading to a complete loss of 468MW.

Ms. Mbah said attempts were made to restore the lines by 5:15 a.m. and 5:17 a.m., but both failed immediately due to the same relay issue. In response, two teams of linesmen from the Apir and Enugu transmission regions were dispatched to trace the fault along the 215 km transmission route, which includes 245 towers.

“The Apir team patrolled the line throughout Monday, navigating difficult terrain up to the River Benue in search of the fault, but were unable to locate the cause. Their efforts resumed this morning,” she said.

The TCN spokeswoman also noted that the team from the Enugu region could not commence line patrols on Monday due to the sit-at-home order in the South-East on October 21 and 22, which also hampered refueling of patrol vehicles. Arrangements were later made for security personnel to accompany the team, allowing them to begin fault tracing on Tuesday.

Ms. Mbah further disclosed that while TCN has restored power to the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir, the 330kV lines remain out of service, affecting the power supply in the North. She added that the Shiroro-Mando transmission line is also down due to security concerns, further exacerbating the outages in the region.

“TCN is working diligently to trace the source of the outage so that repairs can be made and bulk power supply restored,” she said.

She apologized to the government and affected electricity consumers, acknowledging that challenging terrain, including swamps, rivers, and security risks in forested areas, have slowed down the repair efforts. “Our patrol teams would have continued their search into the night if not for these obstacles. We resumed early this morning with security escorts and will continue until the fault is located and addressed,” she concluded.