The Enugu State Government has commenced the construction of three new 33KV feeders to provide improved, affordable, and stable electricity supply to communities in four Local Government Areas of the state.
The project, which is being developed from the Ugwuaji Transmission Station, will serve communities in Nkanu East, Nkanu West, Aninri, and Awgu Council Areas.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the inauguration of the project was preceded by a stakeholders’ meeting on electricity held at the International Conference Centre, Enugu, on Saturday.
Speaking at the event, Mr Christopher Ezeoha, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Enugu State Electrification Agency (ESEA) said the project was aimed at addressing the longstanding electricity challenges in the affected communities.
Ezeoha said Nkanu East and Nkanu West had been grossly underserved because a single feeder currently supplies a very large area.
He explained that the Amechi 33KV feeder serves eight council areas, five in Enugu State and three in Ebonyi State, covering a distance of more than 640 kilometres.
According to him, the length of the feeder makes it difficult to identify and resolve faults whenever they occur, resulting in prolonged power outages.
“Some communities, including Nkerifi, Nara, and Mburubu, have not had electricity for more than 20 years,” he said.
Ezeoha said the state government had directed the agency to restore electricity to such communities but noted that simply restoring the existing feeder would not solve the problem.
He said: “Government has therefore decided to break the long feeder into shorter sections by constructing about three new feeders of roughly 200 kilometres or less each.
“Injection substations will also be installed to transform electricity from 33KV to 11KV, thereby improving the reliability of supply to communities.
“By the time we finish this work, we hope to give them an average of more than 20 hours of daily power supply. That’s what the government has directed us to do.”
Ezeoha said the initiative would not be limited to the four LGAs, adding that similar interventions would be extended to other parts of the state, including Nsukka and Uzo-Uwani.
He said the state government was also preparing its electricity distribution infrastructure to evacuate power from a proposed 630-megawatt generation facility being developed in the state.
According to him, the state government’s long-term objective is to provide reliable electricity supply for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Ezeoha said the government also planned to deploy smart prepaid meters and automation technology to improve accountability and enable quick detection and resolution of faults.
He said a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system would enable the agency to know the location of faults almost immediately, allowing technical personnel to respond directly to the affected point instead of searching along hundreds of kilometres of transmission lines.
The ESEA boss appealed to communities to protect electrical infrastructure against vandalism, stressing that the success of the investment depended on collective ownership and protection of the facilities.
Also speaking, Dr Tom Inugonum, General Manager of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Enugu, commended the state government for its efforts to improve electricity supply.
Inugonum said the TCN Enugu region controls transmission infrastructure covering between six and eight states, adding that improved cooperation with the Enugu State Government would help address the state’s power challenges.
He said Enugu receives electricity from three major sources and had several transmission lines serving different parts of the state.
According to him, some transmission and substation projects in the region remain incomplete, limiting the capacity of the power system.
He expressed concern over the vandalism of transmission infrastructure, citing the value of substations and other facilities that could be lost if they were not adequately protected.
Also speaking, Mr Enyinna Ogbonna, the State Commissioner for Energy, said electricity was one of the major priorities of Gov. Peter Mbah’s administration.
Ogbonna said reliable electricity was critical to driving the state’s economy and achieving the administration’s target of increasing Enugu’s Gross Domestic Product from about 4.4 billion dollars to 30 billion dollars.
In his remarks, Mr Okey Nwatu, President-General of Isi-Amagunze, called for greater community involvement in protecting electricity infrastructure.
Nwatu said transformers, cables, switches, and other electrical facilities were critical infrastructure that communities must protect if they want to enjoy sustained electricity supply.
NAN
