Transmission Company of Nigeria Begins Rehabilitation Of Old Circuit Breakers

Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has commenced the rehabilitation and replacement of old Circuit Breakers in the nation’s transmission network.

The rehabilitation is aimed at improving bulk power transmission to distribution load centers across the country.

Circuit Breakers protect power transformers from any abnormal conditions or fault that may occur within or from outside the network.

They also provide power supply flexibility in the substations’ switchyard when maintenance work is ongoing, without interrupting bulk power supply to distribution load centers in the grid.

The rehabilitation and replacement work which were officially flagged off at the thirty-seven (37) years old 330/132kV Ajaokuta Substation, Kogi State, marks TCN’s determination to ensure that all circuit breakers in its network are certified healthy and performs optimally.

The decision to start with the circuit breakers in Ajaokuta Substation was due to the strategic role the substation plays in transmitting bulk electricity to distribution load centers of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company and Benin Electricity Distribution Company, covering Abuja, Lokoja, Ayangba, Okene, Okpila, and Benin among others.

Despite routine maintenance undertaken by TCN’s in-house engineers, rehabilitating the circuit breakers is to ensure that they continue to perform optimally and eliminate any incident of sudden breakdown due to age.

The exercise will be extended to all substations in the country whose circuit breakers are twenty years and above.

In line with TCN’s quest to further improve the capacity of its workforce, it assigned its engineers to work directly with the contractors to ensure hands-on training and practical skills transfer. Proper retrofitting or replacement of the circuit breakers will ensure that they operate optimally for the next 15 to 20 years.