The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says it has secured $406 million from the World Bank for execution of transmission expansion projects across the country.
Analysts have described the project as the biggest project the company has ever attracted even as it added that “brownfield” will focus on rehabilitation and expansion of existing projects.
TCN’s interim Managing Director, Alhaji Usman Gur Mohammed, who disclosed this in Abuja, stated that the project which would be sited on existing projects will strengthen the capacities of existing lines.
He said, “The first project is signed by the World Bank and this is the biggest project Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and TCN has ever attracted in the history of Nigeria. We have never attracted more than $200 million. Now this $406million project is targeting brownfield projects.
“They are projects that are sited on existing projects meaning that you don’t need to do fresh evaluation impact assessment on the project. Meaning that it is the existing substation we are going to strengthen.
“Under this project, we are expanding the capacity of Geregu Power Plant in Niger state, we are expanding the capacity of Port Harcourt, Umuahia, Kumbotso, Gombe and that is how we are doing all over the country.”
Mohammed also disclosed that the project would see to the installation of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA).
SCADA is a common industrial process automation system that collects data from instruments and sensors located at remote sites and to transmit data at a central site for either monitoring or controlling purpose.
A quality SCADA is central to the effective operation of distribution, transmission and generation assets.
Mohammed affirmed that the first two attempts at installing a quality SCADA had failed as a result of deficiencies in the control rooms.
To this end, he said, the project would address the deficiencies so as to enable the new SCADA function effectively.
“Also under this project, we are going to install a functional SCADA. The SCADA that we have is currently 40 percent of TCN when we did the SCADA in the past we didn’t take into consideration the massive expansion from NIPP. So when the SCADA was completed it only took only 20 percent of the TCN capacity installed and not only that when we did the SCADA, we did not take into account what we call removing deficiencies in the control room.
“So we set up a committee to tell us the reason why the two attempt at SCADA we did not succeed so the committee came up with recommendations that we need to remove deficiencies in the control room, part of what we are doing is that anywhere we are putting substation.
