•Power generation suffered redundancy, loss

Nigeria’s aging power grid has given in to permanent threat of voltage instability and total blackout, collapsing three times in 20 days. Investigation by New Telegraph revealed that this high spate of power system collapse was suffered by the country in the first 20 days of January, 2017. The National Control Centre (NCC) in Osogbo, Osun State, where data on system collapse are kept, is also bracing up for a tough task as the grid continues to show worsening signs of imminent shutdown. The system, checks by this newspaper showed, suffered two total collapse and one partial collapse during the 20-day period.

This also raised the level of redundancy for power generated during the period. Managing Director, Mainstream Energy Solutions, Mr Lamu Audu, who corroborated this, maintained that the electricity industry was facing grave challenges that needed to be urgently addressed, especially to ensure the evacuation of all the power generated by his plants and that of others. The power industry, he said in confirmation of this newspaper’s investigation, had suffered three system collapses since the beginning of the year. Besides he said that until the current crisis, occasioned mainly by gas pipelines vandalism, system collapse frequency was too high and damaging plants.

This is not the first time that the nation’s power system has suffered collapse. Statistics obtained from the NCC in Osogbo, Osun State, showed that over 139 cases of system collapse was experienced in the nation’s power sector within five years (2009 and 2013). There were 124 cases of system collapse between 2009 and 2012, most of which were total collapse, with less cases of partial collapse.

The NCC is the monitoring arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which controls power transmission across the Eight Regional Centres (RC) of TCN. The RCs are located in Kaduna, Bauchi, Benin, Shiroro, Enugu and Port Harcourt.

The national grid system comprises of transmission infrastructure for evacuating power generated nationwide in a pool, which is then controlled and monitored at the NCC. A breakdown of the statistics showed that there were 39 and 42 system failures between 2009 and 2010 respectively. This was lower in 2011 as it recorded 19 system collapses.

Twenty-four of such were recorded in 2012, including nine partial and 15 total collapses, throwing the nation into undeserved darkness for several days. As at June 2013, the country had suffered over 15 system collapses, a situation that triggered the setting up of a 13-member Technical Investigative Panel on System Collapse to address it.

The number of frequent collapses by the first half of 2013 reached an alarming 139 cases, with pockets of such collapse in the second half of the year.

Meanwhile, Audu, who dismissed claims by the TCN, that low water level was partially responsible for the current gross inadequate power supply in the country, stated that of the total generation on the grid of 2,929 megawatts, as at last Monday morning, mainstream operators of both Kainji and Jebba Hydro Power plants contributed about 700 megawatts, adding that Shiroro hydro power also had about 300 megawatts.

“Part of the problem is that when this system collapse happens, it affects our machines and now Jeba is suffering,” he said. “We have been having, up to this week high frequency, which is as a result of somebody not using the power they are having, that is the only explanation. So, most of these high frequencies cause this system collapse.”

Power generation companies such as Mainstream, Audu said, were suffering losses due to unutilised power, while Nigerians have no power to run their businesses and for domestic uses. “Our system is feeling it. The problem with generation of electricity is that electrical energy cannot be stored.

You use as produced. So, these machines monitor that what it tries to put on the grid is actually utilised, if it is not, the frequency will shoot up and the machine will see it and then begins to de-load and if the machine is not designed to de-load on its own, it will trip to protect itself from the high frequency.

“And by the time our machines trip, so many sequence of events happen within that machine and it causes a lot of wear and tear and with the aged machines that we have and by the time you go through one, two, three system collapse, the damage is much,” he added.

Newtelegraphonline