Oscarline Onwuemenyi
*Northern cities to be most affected
26 January 2014, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has announced a likely drop by about 300 mega watts in the power generated to the grid due to planned shutdown by operators of the Shiroro Power plant.
It described the impending reduction as an “unavoidable drop in the quantity of power available for TCN to transmit to the Distribution Companies.”
Shiroro Power Plc has announced that its Power Station will be shut down for three days, from Monday January 27 to Wednesday, January 29, 2014
In a statement signed by the General Manager (Public Affairs) TCN, Mr. Seun Olagunju, the shutdown of the station is to enable the engineering maintenance crew of the Shiroro Power Station rectify ground fault on the Stations Carbon Dioxide Control Panel, which provides vital auxiliary services necessary for the running of the power plant.
The statement explained that the Control Panel is a fire protection scheme for all the units in the power station and that if it is out on repairs, all the units in the station would have no protection against fire outbreak, hence the need to shut down all the units of the power plant.
It noted further that during the period, grid generation will reduce by 300MW, hence the nationwide load shedding.
The impact of the load shedding, TCN said, would be higher in the Northern axis of the nation, especially Kano, due to voltage instability issues previously affecting power supply in that axis.
TCN sincerely apologized for inconvenience the planned load shedding would cause the Federal Government and our highly esteemed electricity consumers nationwide, during the period, and assured that it will continue to work with the power generating stations and distribution companies nationwide, to improve and stabilize the power supply situation in the nation.
