TCN Hits Fresh Transmission Records in One Week
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), wholly owned by the federal government, said that it recorded three consecutive peak system performances in the last one week.
Although, it rarely reflects in the quality of electricity supply received by Nigerians, a statement by the General Manager, Public Affairs of the company, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, stated that the new levels achieved were due to the renewed synergy among power sector players.
The new records which were achieved on February 25, February 26, February 28 and March 1, the TCN further stressed, underlined the reinvigorated company under its acting Managing Director, Mr Sule Abdulaziz.
Mbah noted that the company recorded the enhanced energy of 116,891.14MWH first on the 26 of February, saying that it was higher than the previous value of 116,121.42MWH that occurred on 25/02/2021 by 769.72MWH.
Again, she noted that the TCN successfully transmitted an enhanced peak generation of 5,801.60MW at 9:30pm on March 1, 2021, adding that the latest peak generation was transmitted at a frequency of 50.09Hz.
Mbah said the value was higher than 5,615.40MW recorded on February 28, 2021, by 186.20MW, which was transmitted at a frequency of 50.20Hz, surpassing the previous peak generation of 5,593.40MW which occurred on the 25th of February, 2021 by 22.0MW.
“Also, on Friday, 26th February, 2021, TCN equally transmitted a new Maximum Daily Energy of 116,891.14MWH which is higher than the previous value of 116,121.42MWH achieved on Thursday, 25th of February, by 769.72MWH,” she said.
The statement noted that Abdulaziz reiterated that the consistent increase in the peak generation was due to synergy among power sector participants and concerted efforts by TCN to ensure that all generated power is wheeled to distribution load centres nationwide.
She assured that the TCN would continue to work hard to complete ongoing projects and undertake new ones as it strives to put in place a robust transmission grid, despite challenges posed by vandalism and insecurity, saying that “All hands must be on deck in the fight to safeguard electricity installations nationwide.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Mr. Sale Mamman, has apologised to the people of Maiduguri, Borno State and environs over the continuing disruption to electricity supply in the area.
Some staff of TCN were badly injured a few days ago by explosives while working to restore electricity after the Boko Haram sect destroyed some power facilities in the state in January.
While sending his apologies to all those affected by the insurgents’ attack, through his social media handles, he noted that the TCN has dedicated engineers still on ground, currently working on restoring power.
“We are working hand in hand with the state government and security personnel to mitigate security challenges on ground. The Acting MD of the TCN, Engr. Abdulaziz was on ground with his team a week ago to assess ongoing work,” he said.
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has said that it is making concerted efforts to eliminate difficulties in the area of communication in Nigeria’s airspace.
The agency said that it is now providing the final solution to the hitherto intractable and protracted problem of communication, which is critically important for air safety.
The Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, made this disclosure to THISDAY on Wednesday, saying that by the third quarter of 2021, there would be effective communication in the whole of Nigeria’s airspace.
According to him, the situation has significantly improved following new installation of communication equipment by the agency, adding that more would be installed and by end of September 2021, all the communications corridors in Nigeria’s airspace would be captured.
He said that NAMA has addressed short-term measures by providing communication equipment that covers the airspace for the short term, adding that the move the agency was making now is to install more equipment for the long term.
“We are making good progress. We have addressed short-term measures by providing VHF that has a minimum of 250 nautical miles and we have done the installation of V-Sat in Enugu and Kano to improve communication in the South East and North West corridors. More installations are going on,” the Managing Director said.
He also told THISDAY that by the third quarter of 2021, the NAMA would have completed the installation of Aeronautical Information System (AIS), which would buoy the 14 V-Sats already installed and power them to give full coverage of communication in the Nigeria’s airspace.
He said the agency was aware of the complaints of blind spots in some areas of the airspace and that is why it is working hard to ensure that all the communication equipment was installed to ensure that every loophole was covered.
“We are aware of the complaints and we are doing the installations to eliminate those blind spots. VHF radio can give you good quality and good transmission but they have short range.
“That is why we are installing extended VHF radio. So by the time we complete AIS project, every part of the airspace would have become effectively covered,” he said.
About two years ago NAMA embarked on the rehabilitation programme of improving the airspace communication. Informed source told THISDAY that during that period the situation had deteriorated but the agency was unrelenting and today it had dateline for the final actialisation of the programme.
Akinkuotu said that was to ensure effective communication between pilots and air traffic controllers and to eliminate currently existing areas where there are blind spots, where radio messages were not effectively received in the airspace.
He said radio communication had really improved since the last two years but noted that more needs to be done to have a very efficient system.
According to him, radio communication is a critical factor in pilots-air traffic controllers and pilot-pilot exchanges during flight operations.
The NAMA boss said Nigeria’s airspace deserves the very best radio communications system, and that government was working to deliver it, insisting that there was no going back in achieving an efficient radio communication.
Akinkuotu, who has a distinction of being a pilot and an aeronautical engineer, explained that it was essential for communication between the pilots and air traffic controllers to be crisp and clear, noting that part of NAMA’s job is to provide communications system in the airspace, remarking that the agency, working with government would not rest until the targeted high efficient system was achieved.
He said although there have been, “attestations that they have been some remarkable improvements,” he would not be satisfied until peak efficiency was attained.
He added, “For me, good is not good enough. Why not the best?”
To buttress how communication has improved in Nigeria’s airspace, Akinkuotu had explained to THISDAY that with effective communication a flight can operate at higher height where it would safe fuel and fly faster.
“Let’s start from communications, we had issues of communications in the past, if you were flying from Sokoto in those days you can only climb to 14000 feet and then you start shouting to Kano to let you get ILS (instrument landing system). “Now, from an efficiency point of flight operations, that is not good. It means I fly to 14000 feet and cruise for some time until I can get to Kano. My company (the airline) is not going to be having fun because it is burning fuel at low level.
“I am not going to be having fun because I spend all my time trying to shout to Kano to give me a higher level. But because of the improvement in communication, it means I can have continuous climb to reach my cruise altitude, the airplane flies better, the company happier because of fuel efficiency. And because I don’t have to talk so much it gives me a little bit more time to do other things,” he said.
The NAMA boss said Nigeria’s airspace deserves the very best radio communications system, and that government was working to deliver it, insisting that there was no going back in achieving an efficient radio communication