132/33 kV Substation Engineering in Nigeria: The AFAM Substation Case Study

Nigeria's power sector has a well-documented generation-to-delivery gap. The country has added meaningful generation capacity around the Afam corridor in Rivers State over the past decade — including gas-fired units at Afam IV, V and VI — yet much of that power still struggles to reach consumers reliably. The bottleneck is rarely the turbine. It is usually the transmission and distribution infrastructure that steps down the power and moves it onward, and that starts with the substation. 

This is the real-world problem the AFAM 132/33 kV substation project sat inside: a strong argument for why a 132/33 kV substation — the interface between transmission and distribution — is one of the highest-leverage assets in any grid expansion. For utility companies, EPC contractors, and power generation companies operating in West Africa, this case study offers a practical look at what disciplined substation engineering services entail and why coordination, not just design, determines whether a project succeeds. 

Why the 132/33 kV Voltage Class Matters 

This substation has a unique role to play power is fed into the 132/33 kV substation from the sub-transmission network at 132 kV and transformed to 33 kV for distribution to industrial consumers, feeders and local networks. 33 kV is a common distribution voltage in Nigeria, the West African grid, and much of the Middle East and South Asia, as it is a good compromise between transformer costs, line losses, and the distance over which power can be distributed. 

Designing a substation at this scale calls for a complex interplay of several fields: 

• Primary plant design — transformers, circuit breakers, busbars, isolators, switchgear layout 

• Protection & control design — relay coordination, fault clearance schemes, interlocking logic 

• SCADA design — remote monitoring and control integration 

• Civil design — foundations, cable trenches, control buildings, and earthing systems 

• HV & MV cable design — routing, sizing, and termination 

• System studies — load flow, short-circuit, and protection coordination studies 
  

Getting any one of these wrongs in isolation is manageable. Getting the interfaces between them wrong is where projects lose time and money — which is exactly the challenge the AFAM project had to manage. 

The AFAM Project: Client, Scope and Challenge 

VSS Power Engineering Services was engaged by Talaveras Group, a Nigerian energy company, to provide engineering, design, and delivery support for the AFAM 132/33 kV substation in Rivers State. The same corridor hosts several of Nigeria's Afam gas-fired generating stations. The project has been completed. 

The brief was not just to 'design a substation'; it was Power Plant Design and Engineering support tied in with a live delivery programme, together with several concurrent pressures: 

• Detailed engineering requirements spanning primary and secondary systems 

• Coordination across multiple project stakeholders — client, contractors, and equipment suppliers 

• Technical documentation and design interfaces that needed to stay consistent as the design matured 

• Schedule and delivery constraints typical of infrastructure projects in emerging markets 

• Quality and safety requirements that could not be compromised for speed 

• Compliance with applicable technical standards and project specifications 
  

The central challenge, in short, was maintaining engineering quality, reliability, and coordination. At the same time, the project progressed through design, procurement, and construction — stages in which scope, drawings, and site conditions rarely remain perfectly aligned. 

VSS Power's Engineering Approach 

Rather than treating design and delivery as separate phases handed off at a fixed point, VSS Power ran a structured engineering and coordination process that stayed active across the major project interfaces. This is a distinguishing feature of good HV substation design: the engineering team stays engaged through procurement and construction, not just the drawing-board stage. 

Scope of work provided for: 

1. Detailed engineering and design for the substation, including primary and secondary systems. 

2. Multidisciplinary coordination of designs for electrical, civil, and control disciplines. 

3. Technical design reviews at key milestones 

4. Engineering documentation management to keep deliverables traceable and current 

5. Procurement and construction support, including technical input during vendor and contractor activity 

6. Assurance of quality and technical validation according to project requirements 

7. Stakeholder coordination and communication across the client and delivery teams 

8. Progress monitoring and issue resolution to catch design or interface conflicts early 

   
   

There is a wider trend among clients in the field of high voltage substation solutions whereby they now expect their engineering contractor to take on the responsibility for managing coordination risks, not merely preparing the drawings. If a single-line diagram is technically accurate yet fails to take into account procurement lead times or the civil work constraints at the site, this results in having to do rework later on — and carrying out rework on an ongoing high voltage project is expensive. 

Standards and Compliance Context 

Substation projects in Nigeria typically incorporate a mix of international standards, as their local standards draw heavily on these systems. Examples of such standards in the case of a 132/33kV substation would be: 

• IEC 61850 standard for substation automation and communication, used for protection and control devices, allows interoperability of IEDs from different vendors 

• IEEE C37 series standards for switchgear and protective relaying 

• BS EN standards for transformers, switchgear, and cable systems, often used as a reference in Anglo-African countries 

• Utility-specific technical specifications, in Nigeria often based on Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) practice for equipment interfacing with the national grid 
  

Working against this mixed-standards environment is itself a coordination task — reconciling client specifications, international codes, and local grid operator requirements without contradicting any of them. 

What Good Coordination Looks Like: A Quick Comparison 

The AFAM project followed the third model, which is consistent with how VSS Power positions its substation engineering services more broadly. 

Outcome and What It Demonstrates 

The completion of the AFAM 132/33 kV substation was due to VSS Power's contribution in terms of reliable engineering delivery, better design coordination, a focus on quality during execution, and adherence to the project requirements; the Talaveras Group remarked on the strong technical expertise, timely delivery, and the coordination which all helped to meet the requirements relating to quality, safety, and stakeholder expectations. 

When organisations are assessing a substation engineering services partner with regard to HV infrastructure — whether that assessment is taking place in Nigeria, in the wider area, or elsewhere — the practical conclusion to be drawn is that the primary plant design, protection and control, SCADA, the civil works, and cable design must be engineered as a single, coordinated system rather than as five separate items which are then put together at the end. 

Key Takeaways 

1. The 132/33 kV substation acts as the key connection between the sub-transmission and distribution networks and therefore the quality of its engineering is directly related to that of the grid. 

2. To provide effective engineering services for a substation, it is necessary to have continuous coordination among the primary, secondary, civil, and SCADA disciplines — not merely to pass things hand over hand. 

3. The AFAM 132/33 kV substation project shows how structured engineering support can carry a project through design, procurement, and construction without losing technical control. 

4. Compliance with IEC, IEEE, and BS EN standards, alongside local grid operator requirements, is as much a coordination challenge as a technical one. 

5. HV substation design partners that stay engaged through construction — not just design — reduce late-stage rework and schedule risk. 

   
   

Frequently Asked Questions 

What is a 132/33 kV substation used for?  

It steps down bulk sub-transmission voltage (132 kV) to distribution voltage (33 kV), enabling power to be delivered onward to industrial loads and local networks. 

Why is coordination important in substation engineering services?  

Because primary plant, protection and control, civil, and SCADA design all interact. Poor coordination between disciplines is a common source of late-stage rework on HV projects. 

Which standards apply to HV substation design in Nigeria?  

Automation is typically referenced using IEC 61850, while the IEEE C37 standards are used for switchgear and protection, BS EN standards are applied to equipment, and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) technical requirements are followed when the assets are connected to the national grid. 

What disciplines are involved in Power Plant Design and Engineering for a substation?  

The primary plant design, the protection and control design, the SCADA design, the civil design, the HV and MV cable design, and the system studies were all coordinated together. 

What made the AFAM substation project a success?  

The engineering delivery was organised in a structured way and remained involved at all stages—from the design through to procurement and construction—ensuring that quality, safety, and compliance were maintained, as the client has confirmed. 

VSS Power Engineering Services Ltd. provides substation engineering services and HV substation design support across primary, secondary, and associated electrical disciplines, including work such as the AFAM 132/33 kV substation project in Nigeria. If you're planning a similar transmission or distribution infrastructure project, get in touch with VSS Power to discuss engineering support for your next substation.