Nigeria’s already fragile electricity grid collapsed once again yesterday, just 24 hours after a Federal Government-appointed committee submitted its report on addressing the country’s recurring power grid failures.

The collapse, the second time this week and the 10th in 2024 left the country without public power supply with power generation and distribution companies taking huge financial hits and customers expressing frustrations.

Meanwhile, power sector stakeholders have warned that the incessant national grid collapse may persist, except urgent steps are taken to address the several challenges bedevilling the power sector. These factors they said include obsolete equipment, inadequate gas supply, improper coordination of plants and gas pipelines, lack of operating/spinning reserve and voltage support scheme, lack of reliable Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, SCADA, vandalism, tripping of critical infrastructure lines, lack of reliable communication facility, lack of visibility on the DISCOs network and corruption.

Data from the National System Operator showed that the grid, which had been recovering from the collapse that occurred October 6th, had peaked at 4,360.8MW on Wednesday with lowest generation at 1,454.64MW. The NSO data indicated that the grid supplied 2,709.45MW as of 11am yesterday but dropped dramatically to 4.5MW at 12pm with only Afam VI (3.7MW) and Omoku (0.8MW) power plants on the grid.

It, however, began a gradual recovery at 1pm reaching 104.8MW with Azura IPP (91MW) back on the grid.

In an update on the latest power supply setback, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, attributed it to “a sudden rise in frequency from 50.33Hz to 51.44Hz”.

TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah said recovery efforts were ongoing to restore the grid.

“TCN wishes to inform the public that the national grid experienced a disturbance at approximately 11:29 AM this morning, caused by a sudden rise in frequency from 50.33Hz to 51.44Hz. 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. In addition to this, we are actively engaged in significant repair work on several critical transmission lines and substations. This includes the 330kV transmission lines along the Shiroro–Mando axis, major upgrades at the Jebba Transmission Substation, and the restoration of the second Ugwuaji–Apir 330kV 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.

“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. We acknowledge the impact of these disruptions and ask for the understanding and patience of the public during this challenging period.

“TCN remains committed to improving the reliability of electricity supply, recognizing the vital role that stable power plays in Nigeria’s socio-economic development. We assure 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”, she stated.

Also confirming the latest grid collapse, several electricity distribution companies, including Ikeja Electric and Eko DISCOs, in separate circulars, apologised to their customers for the disruption caused by the incident.

According to a circular to its customers, Ikeja Electric stated: “Dear Esteemed Customer. Please be informed that we experienced a system outage today 07 November 2024 at 11:29Hrs affecting supply within our network.

“Restoration of supply is ongoing in collaboration with our critical stakeholders. Kindly bear with us. Signed: Management.”

Similarly, Eko DISCO said: “Dear Valued Customer. Kindly be informed that at precisely 11.29 hours of today, 7th November 2024, we experienced the simultaneous loss of supply across our network.

“A potential system failure or collapse is suspected. We are currently working with our partners as we hope for speedy grid restoration.”

Also, Jos Electricity Distribution Company (Jos Disco) in a statement obtained from its verified Facebook page, confirmed the current power outage and attributed it to the loss of power supply from the national grid.

“The loss of power supply from the national grid occurred this morning at about 11:28 hours of today, Thursday, 7th November 2024, hence the loss of power supply on all our feeders.”

“We hope to restore normal power supply to our esteemed customers as soon as the grid supply is restored to normalcy.”

Speaking to Vanguard, a top official in one of the leading power generation companies lamented that GENCOS have incurred huge losses since frequent collapses began last month.

The official, who did not wish to be named for fear of victimisation said: “If you know how much we have lost commercially you won’t be asking that question and that is not counting the damages done to our machines by the frequent shutdowns.

“Who will pay for the damages? TCN? FG that owes us so much? NERC? NBET? I can tell you that the industry is in a precarious situation and it would collapse if nothing is done urgently to arrest these failures”, the source stated.

To date, the grid has collapsed ten times this year, with multiple failures occurring in a single month.

Meanwhile, the latest grid collapse occurred barely 24 hours after a committee set up by the federal government to investigate the recent grid collapse submitted its report.

The committee, headed by the Executive Director of System Operations at the TCN, Engr. Nafisatu Asabe Ali, had identified a poor maintenance culture and inadequate and aged equipment, among other challenges, as underlying reasons for the continuous multiple collapses of the national power grid witnessed in recent months.

But operators have called for more investment in the infrastructure of Transmission Company, TCN and Distribution Companies, DISCOs, to end the ongoing grid collapses

Speaking on the issue of incessant grid collapses, the President, Chartered Institute of Power Engineers of Nigeria, CIPEN, Engr. Israel Abraham, blamed politics involved in taking decisions on where to site grid infrastructure as well as poor maintenance culture for the current grid challenges.

Engr. Abraham noted that significant investment was needed to replace the old lines and networks before the grid would stabilize.

“The grid is a connection from generation to transmission to distribution and up to the consumer where you are. It involves all the wires and networks. It is the connection of interconnections of all these equipment and accessories. Most of these equipment are aged and they need to be replaced. You need to reconduct the lines because they have been there for decades.

“To reconduct the lines means you have to remove the old ones and put in new ones or you upgrade it from maybe a lower capacity to a higher one. These things are necessary because as the population grows, you have more people taking power in certain areas and you need to reconduct or you need to upgrade such facilities”.

He pointed out that the location of most substations across the country were not driven by expert decisions but politically made with equipment sited at locations where they are not needed causing imbalance in the system

“If you now have a situation whereby you are not in control to do what you need to do, I go back to that same word again of patronage, you find that you just do what you are asked to do. And if you do what you are asked to do, then you will have what you should have.

“But if we can actually take charge completely and you have professionals deciding what to do, then some of these things will gradually fade out because we will be able to make professional decisions. For instance, in this very environment where we are right now, maybe they need a transformer that is just maybe 500 kVA.

“But if the owner of this place is politically savvy, he can force the government or pass through some politicians and they will bring it in as a constituency project and put maybe a one-megawatt transformer. Now, what happens is the rest is wasted and it also hurts the grid system”.

He urged the Federal Government to summon the political will and ensure that the right things are done in the sector, and also permanently end the culture of political patronage in the execution of projects in the power sector.

SCADA is a system used for controlling, monitoring, analyzing and stabilizing power supply

Vanguard gathered that these and other issues would not be eliminated soon because of many reasons, especially the huge costs and time required to put appropriate systems in place.

It was also gathered that even if adequate funds were available, the government would still need much time to negotiate and place orders to enable foreign manufacturers to produce and ship them to Nigeria, meaning that the frequent system collapse would persist for a long time.

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Source: Vanguard