Electricity: National Grid Collapsed 105 Times In 9yrs

Faced with criticism from Nigerians over the incessant national grid collapse in the country, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has blamed old infrastructure in the power sector for the problem.

The problem has resulted in the grid collapse 105 times in the last nine years, the company said.

This year alone, checks from TCN indicate that the grid had collapsed no fewer than six times in the last four months.

The situation has not been well received by many Nigerians who have issued scathing remarks against power firms because of the impact of irregular power supply on their business, for those that depend on electricity for their livelihood.

Power distribution companies have also not escaped criticisms from Nigerian who complained of lack of electricity to power their homes.

Epileptic power supply has thrown many major Nigerian cities into total darkness as a result of the epileptic power supply, critics say of the sector.

Reacting the TCN said many key infrastructures in the sector have been left unattended for close to 20 years by previous administration in the country.

Speaking during a visit by the Senate Committee on Power to the headquarters of TCN Monday in Abuja, its Executive Director on Independent System Operator, Nafisatu Asabe Ali, said the grid was interconnected with the generation, distribution and transmission, that a problem from any of the parts will automatically results in grid collapse.

Ali said grid collapse has been experienced at least 105 times since 2015. Stressing that the collapses are spread across the country.

She blamed  insufficient gas supply, poor generation availability, among others for the problem.

The TCN executive director explained further that investing more in infrastructure will go a long way to turn the situation in the sector around.

She said: “The causes of grid collapse in Nigeria spread across all participants, from generation companies to transmission and distribution. From generation companies, there is the inadequacy of gas supply, improper coordination of plants and gas pipelines, poor generation availability.

“Customers can experience interruptions to their electricity Supply for three reasons such as reliability issues, where there is insufficient generation to meet consumer demand at a place and point in time; system security events and problems with the security of the network and transmission/ distribution network failures.

“There should be adequate investment in all types of capacity, as well as appropriate operational decisions so that supply and demand are in balance at any point in time.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu said on Monday that power firms currently under the management of Banks and AMCON will soon be sold to technical managers for efficiency. The minister made this note during a meeting with the Senate committee on power in Abuja, the nations capital.