TCN predicts further failures as FG orders an overhaul

The Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, has ordered the prompt replacement of outdated equipment as part of the suggestions to halt the ongoing collapse of the national grid.

An insider claims that Mr. Adelabu promised that the replacement will be completed within six months.

Adelabu also instructed the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and all other pertinent ministry agencies to start putting the inter-agency committee’s suggestions into practice right once.

The committee was established to address the ongoing system breakdowns in the electricity industry.

The minister’s marching order was issued after the TCN revealed that a rapid increase in frequency from 50.33 Hz to 51.44 Hz on November 7, 2024, produced a disturbance in the national grid at around 11:29 A. M.

In a statement, Bolaji Tunji, the minister’s special advisor on strategic communications and media, cited the minister as saying that all pertinent ministry agencies need to prepare for the prompt implementation of the committee’s recommendations, which were turned in on 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.

Poor upkeep

According to the investigating panel’s findings on Wednesday, the national power system has repeatedly collapsed in recent months.

With the major causes being a lackluster maintenance culture and outdated, insufficient equipment as reported.

Additionally, it listed goals to be accomplished in a month, six months, and a year.

A review of relaying settings and philosophy, especially at crucial nodes, capacity building for maintenance and system operation personnel, and other short-term (one month) recommendations are included.

Identifying important ongoing projects for quick completion (low-hanging fruits), creating a framework, implementing reliability-centered maintenance, and testing current equipment at the crucial nodes to establish reliability.

Strengthening relay coordination, replacing outdated and outdated equipment, improving supervisory control and data acquisition and telecommunication tools, creating a framework to draw in private investment throughout the value chain, installing IoT devices on generating units and transmission lines, and securing solid gas contracts are among the suggested goals to be accomplished in six months.

Additional suggestions include creating and putting into practice strategies to prevent vandalism and energy theft; creating strategies to lower transmission loss factor and total technical, commercial, and collection loss; developing human capacity; requiring DisCo and GenCo customers to install harmonic filters; decentralizing the TCN central store; enforcing the Free Governor Mode of Operation; and removing ad-lash taped optic fiber.

The committee suggested improving the distribution network and capacity, encouraging decentralized grid management, implementing complete SCADA and telecommunication upgrades throughout the network, modernizing grid infrastructure (Smart Grid), encouraging and adopting the use of the ringfenced network, replacing outdated and outdated equipment, integrating renewable energy resources, replacing ad-lash tape with OPGW, and intensely developing human capacity as part of its one-year target.

Problem may persist

According to the TCN, the most recent national grid failure happened twice in a 72-hour period.

They assert that it may not be the last because these kinds of outages are likely to continue.

The general manager of public affairs, Ndidi Mbah,  stated in a statement that this is because important infrastructure is constantly being repaired to improve the grid’s overall stability and resilience.

The national grid failed once more on Thursday, the eleventh time since January 2024.

As of 11 A. M., some reporters verified that the 22 power plants could only produce 2,323 megawatts of electricity, with generation falling to 0.00MW.

At 10 A. M., the day’s highest generation was 3,743 MW.

However, the transmission firm gave an update on the problem, stating that it is attempting to find a long-term solution by making major repairs to a number of important transmission lines and substations, which could result in an increase in the electrical demand on operational equipment.

She claims that a sudden increase in frequency from 50.33 Hz to 51.44 Hz was the source of the grid disruption that occurred on Thursday at around 11:29 A. M.

According to her, problems at one of TCN’s substations led to the frequency spike, and in order to avoid more problems, the substation had to be shut down.

TCN, meanwhile, claimed that Thursday’s grid failure was caused by ongoing repairs in the power industry.

“Recovery efforts began immediately, and the Abuja axis was restored within 28 minutes.

“Recovery is still ongoing”, she said in a statement.

Even as many persons asserted that they were yet to get power supply since the first grid collapse.

“The frequency spike was caused by issues encountered at one of TCN’s substations, which had to be shut down to prevent further complications.

“In addition to this, we are actively engaged in significant repair works on several critical transmission lines and substations.

“This includes the 330 kV transmission lines along the Shiroro–Mando axis, major upgrades at the Jebba Transmission Substation, and the restoration of the second Ugwuaji–Apir 330 kV transmission line.

“Furthermore, following the submission of the investigative report on the causes of previous grid collapses, we have begun addressing the identified weaknesses in the transmission system.

“Efforts are being made to close the gaps highlighted in the report, and to enhance the overall stability and resilience of the grid.

“These efforts include both technical upgrades and strategic interventions based on the committee’s recommendations”, Mbah said.

She added: “The Transmission Company of Nigeria wishes to inform the public that the national grid experienced a disturbance at approximately 11:29 A. M. this morning, caused by a sudden rise in frequency from 50.33 Hz to 51.44 Hz.

“Recovery efforts began immediately, and the Abuja axis was restored within 28 minutes.

“Recovery is still ongoing.

“The frequency spike was caused by issues encountered at one of TCN’s substations, which had to be shut down to prevent further complications.”

The statement added that the recommendations made in the investigating panel report were turned in on Wednesday.

It disclosed that TCN has also started to fix the transmission system’s detected flaws, but there might be a price to pay.

It added: “Following the submission of the investigative report on the causes of previous grid collapses, we have begun addressing the identified weaknesses in the transmission system.

“Efforts are being made to close the gaps highlighted in the report and to enhance the overall stability and resilience of the grid.

“TCN is actively engaged in significant repair work on several critical transmission lines and substations.

“This includes the 330 kV transmission line along the Shiroro–Mando axis, major upgrades at the Jebba Transmission Substation, and the restoration of the second Ugwuaji–Apir 330 kV transmission line.

“However, it is important to note that while these repairs and improvements are underway, some degree of instability in the system is likely to persist until all major works are completed”, it stated.

The TCN acknowledged the critical role stable power plays in Nigeria’s socioeconomic growth.

It reassured the public of its commitment to enhancing the reliability of the electricity supply.

“Efforts are being made to close the gaps highlighted in the report, and to enhance the overall stability and resilience of the grid.

These efforts include both technical upgrades and strategic interventions based on the committee’s recommendations.

“The company remains committed to improving the reliability of the electricity supply, recognising the vital role that stable power plays in Nigeria’s socio-economic development.

“TCN acknowledges the impact of these disruptions and kindly asks for the understanding and patience of the public during this challenging period.

“TCN assures the public that all necessary measures are being taken to ensure the grid’s long-term stability, in line with the recommendations of the investigative committee, while also addressing infrastructure damage such as vandalized transmission lines”, the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, the federal government claimed that the ongoing system failures were caused by electricity distribution companies’ refusal to use the power that was allotted to them.

The National Orientation Agency revealed in a statement that the national grid breakdown was caused in part by the DisCos’ rejection of loads.

According to the NOA, the facility modifications made feasible by the Siemens project and TCN’s internal initiatives have allowed the TCN to comfortably wheel out 6000 MW of generated power, with an installed wheeling capacity of over 8,100 MW.

According to NOA, Nigeria’s national grid currently has installed power generation capacity after the 700 MW Zungeru hydropower facility was added and put online in the second quarter of this year.

It added that Nigeria’s national grid now has an installed power generation capacity of about 13,610 MW.

“Despite the 13,610 MW generation capacity and the over 8,000 MW transmission capacity, the total active distribution capacity of the 11 DisCos in Nigeria is still hovering around 4,000 MW.

“Just last month, on September 2nd, a peak generation in three years was achieved but out of the 5,313 MW generated and wheeled out that day, the Discos rejected almost 1,400 MW due to their systems’ fragility.

“These load rejections by DisCos contribute to the collapse of the national grid”, the National Orientation Agency declared.

$800m substations

It further stated that the DisCos’ main obstacle is cost recovery.

It emphasized that this has prevented them from modernizing their infrastructure and distribution substations to handle more electricity for distribution to their customers and deterred investment in the industry.

But according to the agency, the President Bola Tinubu administration was taking on this long-standing issue head-on with the Presidential Metering Initiative, which sought to end estimated billings by guaranteeing that all power users were metered within three years.

It further stated that as part of the Presidential Power Initiative, the Tinubu administration has committed $800 million to build new substations and distribution lines.

“$400m is allocated for the construction of distribution substations for Lot 2 which covers the franchise areas of Benin, Port Harcourt, and Enugu Discos.

“The other $400 million is allocated for the construction of distribution substations and distribution lines for Lot 3 (Abuja, Kaduna, Jos, and Kano Discos).

“The Tinubu administration is also working to decentralise the national grid.

“With a decentralised grid, it becomes easier to transmit and distribute any power including off-grid powers produced in the states”, the NOA maintained.

20-hour power supply

The federal government announced on Thursday, that by 2027, it would provide Nigerians with at least 20 hours of electricity every day.

It did, however, base the goal on adequate investment in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, which it claimed fell well short of expectations.

According to a statement by the State House Director of Information and Publicity, Abiodun Oladunjoye, who quoted Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, at the Energy Week in Cape Town, South Africa: “Nigeria aims to ensure 20 hours of electricity daily for consumers in urban areas and industrial hubs by 2027”.

Verheijen’s claims coincide with the grid collapsing on Tuesday and Thursday, marking the tenth and eleventh crashes in 2024.

Verheijen informed attendees of the Energy Week about the Tinubu administration’s ambitions to modernize the country’s power industry and give the 86 million Nigerians who are now underserved more dependable access to energy.

According to her, the program’s goal was to increase revenue collection and assurance.

In the meantime, a loss of supplies from the national grid caused a massive power outage that impacted multiple states under the Jos Electricity Distribution Company’s franchise region.

Gombe, Bauchi, Benue, and Plateau are reportedly the states that are JEDC franchise states.

The disruption happened at around 11:28 a.m. on Thursday, according to Dr. Friday Elijah, head of corporate communications at JEDC.

“The loss of power supply from the national grid has resulted in the shutdown of all our feeders,” Dr. Elijah said.

“We understand the inconvenience this has caused our valued customers and assure them that we are working diligently to restore normal power supply as soon as possible”.

Elijah appealed for patience and understanding from affected customers, stating: “We appreciate our customers’ continued trust in our services and are committed to providing reliable power supply”.

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