Nigeria plunged into darkness as national grid collapses again
Nigerians are again groaning in darkness after the national electricity grid suffered a major failure on Sunday, seizing power supply to homes amid scorching weather conditions.
According to an expert, who prefers anonymity, the frequent national grid collapses reflect a vulnerable part of the Nigerian electricity value chain. “The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) created regional grid system, but till date has not
allowed it to work because of control. Why should a nation like this depend on one national grid that often packs up at intervals,” the expert asked in frustration.
The situation has exposed millions of Nigerians to economic and health difficulties, who question why the system continues to fail despite huge millions of investment.
The grid, being managed by government-owned TCN, was said to have collapsed in the early hours of Sunday, according to Eko Electricity Distribution Company and Kaduna Electric who confirmed the incident on different posts.
According to Abdulazeez Abdullahi, head of corporate communication at Kaduna Electricity Distribution plc, the current power outage across the country was due to system collapse on the national grid that occurred around 11:26am.
“Dear Esteemed Customers, we regret to inform you that the loss of power supply in our franchise — Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states — is as a result of the collapse of the national grid. The collapse occurred at about 11:26am this morning,” the post read.
The grid collapse has thrown many states, including Lagos, into darkness, even when the TCN said Sunday in a press statement that the nation’s electricity grid experienced multiple trippings that led to system collapse.
The commission has since commenced grid restoration as power has been successfully restored to every part of the country, except Calabar, Ugwuaji, Markurdi, Jos, Gombe, Yola and Maidugiri while effort is however ongoing to ensure full restoration nationwide, it claimed, as at the time of writing this report, major parts of Lagos State were still in darkness.
TCN’S general manager, public affairs, Ndidi Mbah, who confirmed this development, said company regretted the inconvenience this had caused electricity consumers.
She noted that investigations would be conducted to establish the immediate and remote cause(s) of the multiple trippings as soon as the grid was fully restored - considering that the grid had been relatively stable in the last couple of months.
In order to solve the perennial national grid collapse, most stakeholders have advocate for the need to change Nigeria’s power model by having a decentralised system, which will only decentralised the transmission network but also reduce the monopoly of the Discos and also create alternatives for its citizens.
“There is no law that monopolised the distribution of power, which is why Nigeria needs to find ways to decentralise the model by creating more alternative through mini-grids,” Eyo Ekpo, executive director at New Frontiers Development Limited, said at this year’s Pwc’s 11th annual power roundtable virtual event.
Other stakeholders have advocate for the need to support mini-grid operators to break up the monopoly of the 11 electricity distribution companies (Discos), which they say is one of the most efficient ways in improving the reliability of electricity supply, achieving financial and fiscal sustainability, and enhancing accountability in Nigeria’s power sector.
In Nigeria, about 47 percent of its citizens do not have access to grid electricity and those who do have access, face regular power outages.
Data from the TCN show the nation’s electricity grid has collapsed 108 times after the power sector was privatised by the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration, with 11 electricity distribution companies and six generation companies handed over to core investors on November 1, 2013.
This, consequently, affects companies, businesses and individual users. Also, when system collapse occurs, it means zero megawatts to distribute to consumers.
A total system collapse means total blackout nationwide, while partial system collapse is a failure of a section of the grid, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The grid has continued to suffer system collapse over the years amid lack of spinning reserve that is meant to forestall such occurrences.
Spinning reserve is the generation capacity that is online but unloaded and that can respond within 10 minutes to compensate for generation or transmission outages.
Although, five power stations are meant to provide spinning reserves, sometimes none may have actual reserve.
The power stations are Nigerian National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) in Egbin, Delta, Olorunsogo, Geregu and Omotosho.
Nigeria has the capacity to produce 13,000mw of power, compared with more than 50,000mw for South Africa, which has a similar-size economy and a quarter of the population. But Nigeria’s aging grid delivers only about 5,000mw of power to its over 200 million citizens — roughly what the city of Edinburgh provides for 500,000 residents.