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The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has stated that power distribution companies may begin to bear the cost of equipment used to repair faulty transformers and other infrastructure replacements.
The commission said that this measure if implemented, will ensure that DISCOs are more prudent and careful with the management of electricity infrastructure.
The Chairman of NERC, Sanusi Garba, said this at a public hearing on incessant grid collapses organised by the commission to investigate the reasons for multiple grid collapses on Thursday in Abuja.
The PUNCH had previously reported that Nigeria had recorded eight grid collapses in the last 10 months, with the country experiencing three collapses in a week.
This comes as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Power Generation Companies, Joy Ogaji, said that the nation has recorded 162 cases of grid collapse from 2013 to date.
In his address, Garba noted that the frequent national grid collapse was not only impacting the quality of supply to customers but was also affecting the viability of power generation and distribution companies.
He said that the situation can no longer continue, stressing that immediate action would be taken to stabilise the grid and make it more reliable.
“The reality is that what is truly happening with the national grid is impacting the viability of not only the GenCos that generate the energy and capacity but also the distribution companies. Most importantly, it is also impacting the quality of supplies to customers.
“Just one piece of equipment had an issue, and the whole country is in blackout. What is your understanding of why it caught fire? We do not spend millions of dollars buying equipment only for it not to have sufficient protection to prevent such equipment from catching fire. We have had recent instances of huge transformers catching fire as if they are just bales of cotton, so what measures do we have to ensure this does not happen again? You have a prescription but no solution.
“We read all over the place about manufacturing in Nigeria. I mean, if you cannot deliver the right quality of supply to the real sector, then we are going to be working in a market that simply relies on residential customers. Even residential customers don’t consider the performance of the sector good enough.”
He also stressed that DisCos had been asked to state which feeders are most susceptible to weather issues, with a deadline, but nothing was done about it.
“This situation that happened last year, the year before, and the year before that has happened again this year. It is as if we don’t want to move forward intentionally,”
“For each fault on the 33KV feeder banks, the infrastructure belongs to the Transmission Service Provider. If you use the artillery service to clear your fault, you take out 10 kilometres with the same trial. When we talk about maintenance management software, I am not just talking about the Transmission Company of Nigeria;
“I am talking about DisCos. You should have it. DisCos should have it now, and if I may suggest to the commission, anytime you use TCN infrastructure to clear your faults, you must pay for it.”
On her part, Ogaji said the commission needs to be proactive in addressing the problems causing the collapse.
“The topic for this course this morning is not new at all. According to the association’s data taken from 2013 to date, the grid has collapsed 162 times,” she said.
Ogaji also mentioned that the data the private sector is capturing is different from what is reported.
According to the APGC CEO, there is a need for transparency in the sector and for proper data capture by the commission.
“Before the grid code is specified, or the switch is up to four. But we have conducted investigations and found out that sometimes the cripple is well over four, even up to ten, which is eating into someone’s generation that would have fetched them money,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Transmission Company of Nigeria has stated that it has received a security advisory from the office of the National Security Adviser to limit its operations in the areas affected by the vandalisation of the Shiroro-Mando Transmission.
The company stated that the lack of power in the area will not be resolved anytime soon due to insecurity.
The PUNCH reports that the vandalisation of the Ugwuaji-Apir 330-kilovolt (kV) double circuit transmission line has caused over four days of blackout in some states in the north.
Recall that the vandalism of the Shiroro-Mando Transmission was the major cause of blackout in the north, but to restore electricity to this part of the country, alternative bulk supply was carried out through the Ugwuaji-Apir 330-kilovolt (kV) double circuit transmission line.
However, a line tripping in the 330kV further worsened the electricity supply in the region, with the TCN unable to identify the source of the issue.
While the TCN announced the identification of the cause of the tripping yesterday, its Executive Director on Independent System Operator, Engr. Nafisatu Asabe Ali, during the event, said that fixing the Ugwuaji-Apir 330-kilovolt line would not solve the power supply situation as only 350 megawatts would be transmitted to Kano, Kaduna, and Niger Republic.
Nafisatu said that the Shiroro-Mando line, which supplies more bulk electricity, will not be fixed anytime soon due to insecurity in the area where the transmission was damaged.
She added that they received an advisory from the office of the National Security Adviser.
“For the Shiroro-Mando Line, yesterday I went with some of our colleagues to the NSA due to the security challenges. They sent a video of the tower collapse, but at that time, they warned they could not provide security because it had to be strategic. So, we went back, but they said we should write to them.
“The recovery of the line is hampered by security challenges in accessing the site, as it is a no-go area for now. About three towers were taken down; two were completely on the ground, and the other one was destroyed. We have all the materials to restore it, but we can’t access it,” she stated.
She mentioned that currently, the North and parts of the Niger Republic are sharing 250MW, but when the Ugwuaji-Apir line is fixed, the maximum energy that can be delivered will be 350MW.
While stating that the line has the capacity to transmit 750MW, transmission cannot go beyond 350MW due to high voltage in Kano, saying, “If we provide more, the voltage will have issues in Kano.”
On the incessant grid collapse, she said that the major fault lies with the electricity generation companies, as well as a lack of maintenance and ageing equipment.
At the hearing, stakeholders and operators mounted pressure on the TCN to improve the reliability of the National Power Grid, following recent system collapses that triggered blackouts across the country.
The operators blamed obsolete transmission infrastructure and a lack of planned maintenance on the part of the TCN for the frequent grid collapses.
