Fire breaks out at power transmission station in Abuja

A power transmission substation in Apo, a suburb in the Federal Capital Territory went up in flames on Sunday evening.

According to initial reports, the fire started at about 1.30pm from a transformer in the substation and persisted for some hours. The Transmission Company of Nigeria confirmed the incident and stated that one of the 45MVA 132/33kV power transformers in the substation was involved. It said the burnt transformer was part of those that feed the 33kV feeders of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company.

The fire was put off by the combined efforts of the federal, FCT and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation fire service. “It is, however, still early for TCN to determine if the burnt transformer can be salvaged,” the General Manager, Public Affairs, TCN, Ndidi Mbah, said.  She said the fire resulted from a direct fault from one of Abuja Disco’s 33kV feeders which had a history of incessant trippings, as the 33kV lacked protection.

The transmission company said it was equally investigating the possibility of transformer protection failure on its 45MVA power transformer.