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Power grid suffered 97 system collapses since privatisation

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Transcorp Power Consortium beats two others to win Afam Power Plc bid

The latest quarterly report of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has shown that the nation’s power grid collapsed 97 times since the privatisation of the power sector in 2013, a period of five years, three months.

According to the report, the grid suffered 73 total and 24 partial collapses between November 1, 2013 and January 31, 2019.

A total system collapse means total blackout nationwide, while partial system collapse is a failure of a section of the grid, according to NERC.

The grid has continued to suffer system collapse over the years amid 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.

Read also: TCN raises $1.62bn to boost power transmission

Five power stations, Egbin, Delta, Geregu NIPP, Omotosho NIPP and Olorunshogo NIPP, meant to provide spinning reserves, had any actual reserve as of 6am on Thursday, with the contracted reserve put at 295 megawatts.

The commission however said in order to prevent further decline in the grid stability, it would, in collaboration with the TCN, intensify its monitoring and supervision effort to ensure strict compliance with the System Operator’s directives “to generators on free governor and frequency control mode in line with the provisions of the subsisting operating codes in the industry.

“Furthermore, the commission has approved the extraordinary application by the TCN to competitively procure spinning reserves. This is to guarantee adequate spinning reserves for proper management of the grid by the System Operator,” NERC added.

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