Tochukwu Bliss, Abuja
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has constituted a six-member Committee to advise the federal government on necessary solutions to make the national grid robust and reliable.
According to a statement today, the committee members are expected to present a report to the minister on November 1.
“The committee is to also establish the root cause of both incidents, especially a review of potential sabotage on the system.
“The committee will holistically review the national grid stability and identify investments and technical capacities required to make the grid smart and resilient,” it said.
the committee is an addition to the government’s ongoing efforts, including the Presidential Power Initiatives and the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project (NETAP), to ensure reliable power supply.
A technical team has also been deployed to access the national grid’s critical nodes, identify potential vulnerabilities, and proffer recommendations to prevent future disruptions.
The minister invited the leadership of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to an emergency meeting over the weekend to address the grid disturbance.
The minister was said to have expressed displeasure at the incident, which could rubbish last year’s giant strides.
Recall that on October 14, there was a partial collapse due to the tripping of a line at the Jebba Transmission Substation and a recurring fault at the Osogbo Transmission Substation, with efforts to restore the grid resulted in a setback the following day, until the system was fully restored on October 16.
The statement reads further: “There was no grid collapse on Tuesday as was widely speculated, as the setback was a continuation of Monday’s restoration efforts on the grid. What was described on October 19 as grid collapse was a deliberate protective shutdown of the grid as a result of the explosion of the Jebba transformer. And this was restored within two hours.
“What we had were more grid disturbances than collapses. Preliminary assessment of the Jebba incident suggested that the explosion was a result of ageing equipment unrelated to the initial collapse.”
The committee will holistically review the national grid stability and identify investments and technical capacities required to make the grid smart and resilient.
