There appears to be no solution in sight to the problem of national grid collapse and its attendant effects on the power sector. The inability of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to procure the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) technology has been identified as the major setback to solving the problem. With SCADA, TCN would monitor sub-stations across the country and avert grid collapse.
In less than six years after the unbundled assets of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was privatised and sold to investors, the country has recorded 100 cases of partial or total collapses of the grid.
The last one was in June, when the grid collapsed on twice. It was as a result of failure of the Benin substation to perform well. However, the effects of the collapses are still being felt by the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) on one hand and businesses on the other hand, that were affected by the power outages that happened as a result of the incidents.
More of such cases are coming due to inability of the Transmission Company of Nigeria to deploy Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), the technology, which would help in accessing the operation of the transmission substations and subsequently avert grid collapse.
Estimated to cost $5million including offshore training of at least fifteen officials of TCN on how to handle the device, the non-availability of the device poses a threat to the operation of TCN and by extension the economy, which suffers the consequences of grid collapse.
One major area in which absence of SCADA inhibits the operation of the sector is that it makes monitoring of activities on the grid difficult for TCN and as a result, detection of faults on the grid would not be possible.
Speaking on the issue, the Managing Director, TCN, Mr. Usman Mohammed, said collapse of the grid has been due to the absence of SCADA in the country. He said TCN would need $5million to fix the technology in the sector, adding that the device would be available in the country in the next two to three years.
TCN, he said, has segmented the use of SCADA by starting with the Automated Meter Reading (AMR), adding that through this means energy would be accurately metered in a way that all market participants would have access to it.
Taking a cue from South Africa, Mohammed said that TCN intends to deploy the technology for maximum use with a view to prevent cases of grid collapse in the foreseeable future.
Mohammed further said TCN would spend $5million to digitalise the control rooms across the sub-stations nationwide, adding that the idea would significantly enhance the operation of SCADA.
In a related development, the Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Mr. Sunday Oduntan, acknowledged the efforts of the Federal Government to ensure that TCN operates efficiently. He, however, said the decision by the management of TCN to reverse its inefficiency will not occur overnight.
He said: “The decision by the management of TCN to reverse 62 years of inefficiency and underfunding in the transmission subsector of the energy sector cannot happen overnight. The reason is because of some salient issues, which need several years before they can be sorted out. One of them is grid collapse, which has become a common phenomenon in the Nigerian electricity industry.
“To solve the issue of grid collapse in Nigeria, TCN should try and put in place a technology known as SCADA. Through this, activities in the transmission cycle will be well monitored.”
According to him, TCN was responsible for the incessant grid collapse in the country because it does not have protective network mechanisms.
He said the trend of burnt transmission stations and failed transmission substations incidents in Lagos, Abuja, Calabar and Onitsha, within a year, was due to inadequate transmission protective mechanism and procedures, urging TCN to put in place strategies to avert situations whereby grid would be collapsing in the nearest future.
He said a myriad of commercial and technical losses normally arise anytime TCN is having challenges managing energy on its grid.
The Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies (AGPC), Dr Joy Ogaji, said the problems in the energy sector are interwoven because the three major stakeholders in the value chain experience similar problems. She said the GenCos, DisCos and TCN in a way have problems directly or indirectly.
On transmission, she said the issue is affecting the sector because the three key players in the value chain are affected.
Similarly, the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has accused TCN of being solely responsible for the numerous collapse of the grid in the country. The firm said failure of TCN to procure SCADA is having adverse effects on its operation.
Its Spokesperson, Mrs Angela Adekunle, in a statement made available to The Nation, said the industry would have rid itself of cases of grid collapse and the attendant effects on the entire industry. She said a total system collapse, which occurred on June 30th this year, affected all the franchise areas of the firm. The areas, Adekunle said, include Ogun, Ibadan, Oyo, Ogbomoso, Oshogbo and other towns.
She said TCN can only curb cases of grid collapse, when it acquires and deploys SCADA in the sector. Until TCN has SCADA in place, the issue of collapse of the grid would continue as well as affect the output of the three major operators in the value chain – the generation companies, the distribution companies and the transmission company.
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company spokesman, Mr Emeka Eze, said grid collapse has an undesirable consequences on the economy, stressing that the rampant cases of grid collapse in Nigeria has affected the operation of the power firms and businesses in the country. He said the collapse of the grid, in June this year, affected some places under the franchise of Enugu DisCo.
Source: The Nation