By Adedapo Adesanya
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said that the nation recorded 105 cases of grid collapse from 2015 till date.
The TCN General Manager for Public Affairs, Ms Ndidi Mbah, disclosed this in a statement posted on the company’s X handle on Wednesday.
This year alone, there have been four grid collapses, which have resulted in reduced electricity allocation to electricity distribution companies in the country.
The most recent came on April 15 with several cities in Nigeria thrown into darkness. The grid collapsed as generation dropped to 64.70 megawatts, officials said.
In its statement on Wednesday, the company said the number of grid disturbances/system collapses has gradually reduced, contrary to popular opinion.
“In recent years, the number of grid disturbances/system collapses has gradually reduced, contrary to popular opinion.
“Clearly, between 2020 to date (five years), we recorded fourteen total and six partial grid disturbances totalling twenty (20), which represents a 76.47 per cent reduction in grid disturbance, when compared to the previous five years, (2015 to 2019) where we had sixty-four total and twenty-one partial grid disturbances, totalling eighty-five (85) times,” Ms Mbah said.
She said this improvement is, however, not unconnected to the continuous effort by the management to strategically expand the grid while harnessing in-house capacities to find solutions to grid stability, pending the deployment of SCADA/EMS.
“No doubt there is room for improvement, and TCN will continue to work hard to further reduce the number of grid methods is yielding mind-bogglingly amazing results!
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu earlier this week warned that there would be a total blackout in the country in the next three months if the proposed electricity tariff hike is not implemented.
The minister disclosed this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power at an investigative hearing over the recent electricity tariff hike by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
He said, “The entire sector will be grounded if we don’t increase the tariff. With what we have now in the next three months, the entire country will be in darkness if we don’t increase tariffs.
“The increment will catapult us to the next level. We are also Nigerians, we are also feeling the impact.”
He said the sum of $10 billion is needed yearly for the next ten years to revive the nation’s ailing power sector.
Aduragbemi Omiyale