The Transmission Company of Nigeria has announced the addition of 600 megawatts to the national grid following the completion of the Ihovbor/Benin and Ihovbor/Ajaokuta 330kV Turn-In-Turn-Out Transmission Line Project in Edo State.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of TCN, Sule Abdulaziz, disclosed this on Thursday during the official commissioning of the project.

Abdulaziz described the project as a major milestone in efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s transmission network and improve electricity delivery across the country.

According to him, the project involved connecting the existing Benin/Ajaokuta 330kV transmission line to the Ihovbor Transmission Substation through two new transmission routes covering a total distance of 14 kilometres.

“This project involves the strategic linking of the existing Benin/Ajaokuta 330kV transmission line to the Ihovbor Transmission Substation, creating two new transmission routes with a total length of 14 kilometres,” he said.

He explained that the project would improve operational flexibility and strengthen power delivery within the Benin corridor.

“With the completion of this strategic project, we have increased the operational flexibility of the transmission network and strengthened the resilience of power delivery within the Benin corridor through this connection to the power plant,” Abdulaziz stated.

The TCN boss noted that the new infrastructure would enable the company to evacuate more electricity generated by the Azura Power Plant and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company plant.

“This has equally helped in alleviating transmission bottlenecks, enhanced system reliability, while allowing the distribution companies access to more bulk electricity for their customers nationwide. With this, we have added 600 megawatts to the national grid,” he added.

Abdulaziz further explained that the national grid system would allow electricity generated from the Benin axis to be transmitted to other parts of the country more efficiently.

“With the grid system, power generated from the Benin axis can easily be wheeled to any part of the country,” he said.

He also stressed that the project reflected TCN’s commitment to improving transmission infrastructure, innovation, and collaboration within the power sector.

“Before, there was power that was generated without evacuation, but now we are going to evacuate more power, which means Nigerians would be getting a more powerful supply,” he added.