Minister for Power, Adebayo Adelabu
By Akeem Atoyebi
The Minister for Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has given directive for the immediate replacement of aged equipment as part of the recommendations to stop the incessant collapse of the national grid.
Adelabu assured that the replacement would be achieved in six months.
Adelabu also ordered the Transmission Company of Nigeria and all other relevant agencies of the ministry to begin the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the inter-agency committee, set up to address the incessant grid collapses in the power sector.
The Minister’s marching order came as the TCN reported that the national grid experienced a disturbance at approximately 11:29 am, on Thursday, November 7, 2024, which was caused by a sudden rise in frequency from 50.33Hz to 51.44Hz.
The Special Adviser to the Minister on Strategic Communications and Media, Bolaji Tunji, in a statement, quoted the Minister as saying that all relevant agencies in the ministry must brace up for the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the committee, which was submitted on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.
“The recommendations of the committee are far-reaching and will proffer lasting solutions to the incessant power grid collapses that we have embarrassingly witnessed in the country in the immediate and long term”, Bolaji said.
On Wednesday, the investigative panel said that a poor maintenance culture and inadequate and aged equipment, among other challenges, are the underlying reasons for the incessant multiple collapses of the national power grid witnessed in recent months.
It also outlined recommendations to be achieved in one month, six months and one year.
The short-term (one month) recommendations include; a review of relaying philosophy and settings, particularly at critical nodes, capacity development for maintenance/System Operation staff, Testing existing equipment at the critical nodes to establish reliability, developing framework and adopting reliability-centred maintenance and Identifying critical ongoing projects for speedy completion (low-hanging fruits).
The recommended objectives to be achieved in six months include strengthening relay coordination, replacement of aged and obsolete equipment, enhancing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition and telecommunication tools, developing a framework to attract private investment across the value chain, deploying IoT devices on generating units and transmission lines, and secure firm gas contracts.
Other recommendations include developing and implementing measures to combat vandalisation and energy theft, developing measures to reduce transmission loss factor and aggregate technical, commercial and collection loss, human capacity development, Installation of harmonics filters by DisCo and GenCo customers, Decentralisation of TCN central store, enforcement of Free Governor Mode of Operation and the removal of ad-lash taped optic fibre.
In its one-year target, the committee recommended enhancing the distribution network and capacity, promoting decentralized grid management, implementing full SCADA and Telecommunication upgrades across the network, modernising grid infrastructure (Smart Grid), promoting and adopting the use of the ringfenced network, Replaciof aged and obsolete equipment, integration of renewable energy resources, replacement of ad-lash taped with OPGW and intense human Capacity Development.
Meanwhile, the Transmission Company of Nigeria has indicated that the latest national grid collapse, which occurred twice within 72 hours, may not be the last, as such failures are likely to persist.
A statement by the General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, noted that this is due to the ongoing repair of critical infrastructure to enhance the overall stability and resilience of the grid.
On Thursday, the national grid collapsed again, marking the 11th of such incidents since January 2024.
It was confirmed that as of 11am, the 22 power plants were only able to generate 2,323 megawatts of electricity, with generation dropping to 0.00MW.
The peak generation for the day was 3,743MW as of 10 am.
But providing an update on the issue, the transmission company said it is working to find a lasting solution company through significant repair work on several critical transmission lines and substations, which may increase the electricity load on functional equipment.
According to her, the grid disturbance experienced on Thursday at approximately 11:29am on Thursday was caused by a sudden rise in frequency from 50.33Hz to 51.44Hz.
