The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has commissioned a 60MVAR Capacitor Bank at the Apo 132/33Kv substation to improve quality and voltage of electricity supply to consumers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Minster of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said at the commissioning of the project on Thursday that it would improve quality of power in terms of voltage to some communities in the FCT.
He listed the communities to include Apo, Guzape, Garki, Lugbe, Asokoro, and some parts of Central Area. Fashola said the provision of the facility was part of the implementation of incremental power programme of the Federal Government.
“We are here because we promised incremental power, we have improved the quantity that is available. We have improved the quantity of power that is being transported. We have improved the quantity of power that is being distributed, but our work is not finished.
“It is one thing to have power, it is another thing for the quality of the power to be good and today we came to address the quality of power.
“Our population has grown over the last 20 years without a commensurate expansion in the services that we have installed, and that is partly why you experience issues like low voltage, load shedding and other issues.
“Today, we added a capacitor bank here which will help to increase and improve the quality of power by improving the voltage. Voltage is critical not only to general safety but also to quality of life and cost,’’ the minister said.
The installation of the power capacitor bank was necessitated by the on-going transmission rehabilitation and reinforcement of power infrastructure to improve wheeling capacity at the interface level with distribution companies (DisCos).
The installation of the facility was done by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) through mutual cooperation between the Nigerian and Japanese governments to improve electricity supply to Abuja, Nasarawa and Benue States.
The contract for the project was awarded to EPC contractor in July 2016 at the cost of 12.1 million dollars. Fashola said the Japanese government through JICA was one of the partners driving the change promised Nigerians by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“This project is part of the change for a better Nigeria, the president need partners and one of the partners is the Japanese government represented in Nigeria by JAICA,” Fashola explained.
Earlier, the Managing Director of TCN, Mr Mohammed Gur-Usman, said the project was one of many the company had undertaken under the collaboration component of the incremental power project.
He said the Apo sub-station capacitor bank was done jointly with another capacitor bank in Keffi, adding that the Keffi component had 25MVAR as capacity value, while Apo has 60MVAR.
Gur-Usman said under the collaboration, JICA would support the upgrade of the Apapa sub-station from 90MW to 160MW and rehabilitation of Akangba sub-station
He said negotiations were on-going with JICA to also rehabilitate Isolo, Ojo and Ikeja West subs-stations. “JICA is supporting us with a loan that will help us increase transmission capacity between Lagos and Ogun States to more than 1,000MW,” Gur-Usman said.
The Chief Representative of JICA at the Nigerian Office, Mr Katsutoshi Komori, said JICA was working in the areas of infrastructure development in Nigeria, adding that improving infrastructure like power was one of the priority areas of JICA programmes to enhance Nigeria’s potential economic growth.
He explained that the provision of the capacitor was to mitigate the suffering of consumers from voltage loss and load shedding due to increasing population and distance from power infrastructure. According to him, the project will help stabilise power supply in the region to approximately 7,000 households.
