Adelabu Constitutes Committee Over Frequent Grid Collapse

The Power Minister, Bayo Adelabu has constituted a six-member forensic investigation committee to review the frequent collapse of the national grid and advise the government on necessary solutions to make it reliable.

The six-member committee that will report to the Minister by November 1 comprises Engr. Nafisat Ali, Executive Director, Independent System Operator (ISO), who leads the committee, Dr. Chidi Ike, Commissioner, NERC, Engr. Ishola (GM. National Control Centre (NCC), Engr. Emmanuel Nosike, Director, Transmission, Federal Ministry of Power (FMoP), Engr. Ali Sharifai (GM, Transmission Service Provider (TSP) and. Adedayo Olowoniyi, Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power.

This measure is in addition to the ongoing efforts of the government like the Presidential Power Initiatives (PPI) and the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project (NETAP) to ensure a stable grid.

The committee is the outcome of the meeting of the minister with the leadership of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) over the national grid which collapsed thrice last week and threw the country into darkness

The Minister expressed displeasure at the incident, which he said, was capable of rubbishing the giant strides which have led to an increased generation and distribution of 5, 527 megawatts, a record generation in three years.

The Committee will look at the root cause of the incidents, review the national grid stability and identify investments and technical capacities required to make the grid smart and resilient.

In addition, a technical team is to access the critical nodes on the national grid to identify potential vulnerabilities and measures to address these vulnerabilities to prevent future disruptions.

On Monday, 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. Efforts to restore the grid further resulted in a setback the following day. The System was however fully restored on Wednesday, October 16, 2024. 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.

Also, what was described on Saturday, October 19, as grid collapse was a deliberate protective shutdown of the grid due to the explosion of the Jebba transformer. And this was restored within two hours. “What we had were more grid disturbances than collapses”.

 A preliminary assessment of the Jebba incident suggested that the explosion was due to ageing equipment unrelated to the initial collapse.