By Precious Owolabi, Ado-Ekiti

The Federal Government has intensified efforts to boost electricity supply in Ekiti State with the delivery of equipment, supplies, and accessories for two 132/33KV substations, along with transmission lines.

Receiving the equipment on behalf of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) at the Omisanjana 132/33KV station in Ado-Ekiti, the State Commissioner for Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Prof. Bolaji Aluko—accompanied by Ekiti TCN General Manager, Engr. Victor Famoroti—said the substations will be installed in Ilupeju Ekiti and Ijesa Isu Ekiti to improve the transmission of bulk power supply to the northern and other senatorial districts of the state, with a switching station at Ikere.

While commending the Federal Government and Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, for fast-tracking the substation projects, the Commissioner said the additional substations—aimed at revolutionising the state’s power sector—will provide a total addition of 240MVA (four new transformers of 60MVA each) to the existing 140MVA (three transformers) at the Omisanjana substation in Ado-Ekiti.

He added that the project would be completed before the end of the year.

According to Prof. Aluko, “Those two stations will be like the Omisanjana station where we are standing right now. This project has been ongoing for almost three years, and more equipment has been arriving. About four or five months ago, a set of trucks with equipment was delivered to Ijesa Isu, Ikere, and Ilupeju, but this is the largest consignment so far—15 trucks carrying various equipment, poles, wires, and transformers.

“You know, this work takes time. I’m sure it will still take about six months for full installation. You do pole installation, wiring, testing, and so on. We are hopeful that it will be ready by the end of this year. We’ve been waiting for three years, so we can wait a little longer.”

Commending Governor Oyebanji for the establishment of the Independent Power Project (IPP)—the only power-generating station in the state—Prof. Aluko noted, “Until we had our IPP, Ekiti State had no generation plant. Power generation itself has been a major challenge, but we now have an IPP.

“Apart from this IPP, we’ve been dependent on the national grid. The Omisanjana station is the only power station in the state that receives 132 kV and radiates 33 kV. These two additional stations, with all the new equipment, will enable us to establish two more facilities like Omisanjana. That way, 33 kV lines can radiate from more points in the state and further boost electricity supply to more areas.

“These stations will bring quality electricity closer to the people. One thing about electricity is that the farther it travels from the source to the point of consumption, the more power it loses. So, when you have more substations in different parts of the state, electricity reaches more towns with greater strength. That’s why this is extremely important to us.

“Furthermore, it will increase the capacity of the grid lines in Ekiti State to accept more power, eliminating excuses from the national grid or from new generation plants about insufficient lines to take the power they generate,” the Commissioner stated.