Nigeria’s Transmission Company (TCN) says it has invoked force majeure on the 132kV Birnin Kebbi-Niamey transmission line after three of its towers gave way, according to a statement released Friday.
TCN reported that the line experienced its first outage at 5:38 p.m. on August 26. A trial attempt to restore power at 6:03 p.m. failed when the line tripped once more shortly after reconnection.
A patrol dispatched to locate the fault later confirmed that towers T109, T110, and T111 had come down close to Chibike village, with the company pointing to strong winds and heavy downpours as the cause.
As a result, bulk electricity supply to Niamey, Niger’s capital, which depends on the line, has been interrupted.
TCN said engineers and equipment have already been sent to the affected site to carry out repairs and get the towers and line back in operation. The company expressed regret over the disruption and told customers in Niamey that steps are being taken to restore power to normal levels.