House investigates incessant national grid collapse

The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Power to conduct investigation into the root causes of incessant national grid collapse in the country.

This is even as the lower legislative chamber communicated its lack of confidence in the capacity of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to address the ugly trend, as well as forestall future occurrences and protect the nation’s fragile socio-economic environment.

The Green Chamber is concerned that since 2013 when the privatisation exercise held in the power sector, the country has witnessed over a hundred national grid collapses, a challenge, which experts and operators said, would linger if not urgently addressed.

A lawmaker, Sani Bala, who moved a motion to the effect under matters of urgent national importance during plenary, noted that only this year, the national grid collapsed seven times, thrice higher than the figures of 2021.

The latest in the series of power failures, according to the legislator, has been adjudged among the worst the country had witnessed in recent times, indicating that there is no framework or spinning reserve to forestall future happening.

Also, the House regretted that it is incomprehensible that all the key power plants in the country, including Egbin, Utorogu, Chevron Oredo, Oben gas-fired power plants, Ughelli and Chevron Escravos power plants could all shut down at once.

“The issue of system collapse may not be unconnected with TCN’s lack of wheeling capacity, inadequate transmission lines and spinning reserves, as well as refusal to fast-track construction of digital control centres instead of the company’s current analog system,” he said.

The chamber noted that if the power generated is adequately wheeled and transmitted for distribution to consumers, there would be a 30 per cent reduction in the cost of generating power thus, leading to a corresponding reduction in prices of utilities in the electricity supply industry.

(Guardian)