Stakeholders seek end to incessant national grid collapse

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Thursday conveyed a public hearing with stakeholders converging to recommend ways to address power system disturbances.

In his address, the NERC Chairman, Sanusi Garba said NERC considers what has been happening as significant public interest and provided a platform to discuss ways to tackle them. There have been multiple system disturbances that have caused widespread outages in parts of the country.

“Today we are here, and the Commission intends to take a deep dive to find a solution to this. The reality is that what is happening to the national grid is affecting the generation companies and the distribution companies and also impact the quality of supply to manufacturers and residential customers.”

Representative of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Executive Director, System Operation, Engr. Nafisat Ali, in a presentation said two recent incidences caused wide outage due to equipment failure.

“Challenges in the value chain must be holistically addressed to resolve the disturbances while cooperation of all stakeholders is a must for a largely manually operated grid,” she stated as part of the strategies to tackle the issues.

There were remarks from representatives of the generation companies, distribution companies and intervenors from the private sector suggesting concerted efforts to address obsolete equipment, transitioning to a smart grid and addressing attitudinal issues hindering optimal grid operation.