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Nigeria suffered 12 power grid collapses in 2018

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TCN sees DISCOs as cause of power challenge in Nigeria

A total grid collapse on December 21 increased Nigeria’s total grid colapse in 2018 to 12, data from the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has shown.

The December 21 collapse was however the first in three months.

Aside the 12 total collapse, there was a partial collapse of the grid in April.

According to the data, the total collapses occurred in January (five), February (one), June (one), July (one), September (two) and December (one).

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) describes total system collapse as total blackout nationwide, while partial system collapse is a failure of a section of the grid.

The data also showed that total power generation stood at 4,214.30 megawatts as of 6 pm on Monday, December 24, down from 4,402.20MW on Sunday, while six power plants, Sapele I, Alaoji NIPP, Olorunsogo NIPP, Odukpani NIPP, AES and ASCO did not generate any megawatts on Monday.

It also showed a total generation capacity of 626.4MW was unutilised on Monday, as a result of low demand by electricity distribution companies.

The Nigeria Electricity System Operator, an arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, has also put the nation’s installed generation capacity at 11,165.40MW; available capacity at 7,139.60MW; current transmission capacity at 7,000MW; network operational capacity at 5,500MW, and the peak generation ever attained at 5,222.3MW.

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NERC also disclosed in its latest quarterly report that the power sector recorded a significant improvement in the stability of the grid network during the second quarter of this 2018.

The report stated that the improvement in the grid stability achieved in the quarter was attributed to the commission’s and TCN’s commitment to ensuring stable electricity supply.

It said: “This is done through tighter enforcement and adherence to the provisions of the grid code which mandates free governor control at grid-connected power plants.

“To sustain the improvement in grid stability recorded in this quarter, the commission will intensify its monitoring and supervision efforts in order to ensure strict compliance to the commission’s directives that generators should be on free governor and frequency control mode in line with the provisions of the subsisting rules in the industry.”

According to findings, the national grid has continued to suffer system collapse over time because of a 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.

Out of the five power stations meant to provide spinning reserves, none had any actual reserve as of 6 am on Monday, with the contracted reserve put at 295MW.

The power stations are Egbin, Delta, Olorunsogo NIPP, Geregu NIPP and Omotosho NIPP.

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