A significant power outage has affected parts of Northern Nigeria due to the tripping of the Transmission Company of Nigeria's (TCN) 330kV Ugwaji-Apir Double Circuit transmission lines.
The incident, which occurred early Monday morning, has left residents in the North East, North West, and parts of North Central without electricity.
According to TCN's General Manager for Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, the first line tripped at approximately 4:53 a.m., transferring 243 megawatts (MW) of power to Line 1.
However, Line 1 also tripped shortly after at 4:58 a.m., resulting in a total loss of 468 MW. Attempts to restore power at 5:15 a.m. and 5:17 a.m. were unsuccessful as both lines immediately tripped again.
In response to the outages, TCN dispatched two teams of engineers to trace the fault along the 215 km route that includes 245 transmission towers.
One team from the Apir Transmission Sub-region has been patrolling the line but faced challenges navigating difficult terrain, reaching as far as River Benue without locating the fault.
Meanwhile, a second team from Enugu was unable to begin patrols due to a sit-at-home directive in the Southeast.
Mbah noted that while TCN has restored power to the 132kV transmission line from New Haven to Apir, the critical 330kV lines remain out of service.
Additionally, the Shiroro-Mando transmission line is down due to security concerns, exacerbating the power crisis in the region.
TCN is actively working to identify and rectify the cause of these outages and has arranged for security operatives to assist in fault tracing efforts.
Mbah expressed apologies to affected residents and emphasized the company's commitment to restoring power as quickly as possible.
