Power: ANED calls for monitoring equipment to reduce system collapse

The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distribution (ANED) has urged the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to, as a matter of urgency, procure a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) equipment to reduce system collapse.

The SCADA is a computer system for gathering and analysing online real-time data.

SCADA systems are used to monitor and control a plant or equipment in industries such as telecommunications, water and waste control, energy, oil and gas refining and transportation.

Mr Sunday Oduntan, Executive Director Research and Advocacy, ANED, the umbrella body of DisCos, made the call in an interview with NAN in Abuja on Monday.

Oduntan said the SCADA, when installed, would monitor the grid and trace system collapse faults, adding that it was very important for TCN to acquire the equipment.

According to him, the Managing Director of TCN, Mr Usman Mohammed, had alluded to the fact that it is very important for the company to acquire and install the equipment.

“The current situation is not good because the current national grid is radial in nature which means it goes straight,” he explained

Oduntan said whenever there was a problem, TCN would have to get on the phone, relying on somebody else at the other end, “whereas SCADA gives you that wide opportunity to watch, monitor and take action on your network real life and time.”

“So SCADA is very important, I don’t know of any country in the world, or a country as big as Nigeria, that does not have such equipment.

“You cannot be efficient without SCADA, so TCN needs to see this as an important acquisition they have to make,” he said.

Oduntan also said ANED was working with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to improve power supply network.

That is to ensure that the DisCos improve their performance; doing better than they had and to reduce losses, he noted. (NAN)