The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said a fire incident at Egbin Power Plc at about 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday affected its 150 Mega Volt Ampere (MVA) transformer at the Egbin Transmission Substation.

TCN’s general manager, public affairs, Ndidi Mbah, on Wednesday, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja.

She explained that the fire originated from one of the power station’s service transformers, owned by Egbin Power, which was directly connected to the 33 Kilo Volt (kV) side of TCN’s 150MVA 330/132/33kV Inter-Bus Transformer II.

According to her, preliminary investigations traced the cause of the fire to a faulty 33kV instrument transformer (CT/VT) installed by Egbin Power, which caught fire.

”This ultimately led to the damage of  a 150MVA power transformer belonging to TCN, causing oil leakage from the transformer due to a tear in its main tank.

”As a result of the incident, there is a temporary reduction in bulk power supply to Ikorodu and Odogunyan 132/33kV transmission substations, which supply Ikeja Electricity  Distribution Company (IkEDC) and parts of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company  franchise areas as well as Sagamu Line 1, Sagamu Line 2, and Maryland Line 2 on the 132kV network within Lagos State,” she said.

Ms Mbah said that at the time of the incident, a total load of 47 Mega Watts (MW) was affected.

She said that the  load was immediately diverted to the second available 150MVA power transformer within the substation, which was now operating under strain.

Ms Mbah also said that following the incident, capacity deficit had increased and remained high, resulting in load-shedding across all affected areas.

She said that the company was working diligently to replace the damaged transformer and restore normal power supply as soon as possible and appealed for more time.

”TCN has already notified the  IKEDC and Eko  Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) to assist in load management within their franchise areas.

”On our part, TCN is already making urgent arrangements to source the replacement transformer.

”We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this is causing the two distribution companies and electricity customers in the 

affected areas.

”And pledge to work hard to ensure full restoration of bulk supply to the substations in the shortest possible time.” 

(NAN)