NERC Grills TCN over Incessant Grid Collapse, Questions Company’s Management of Transmission Network

*TCN blames aging infrastructure, vandalism, others for grid failures 

*Gencos say 162 cases  recorded since 2013

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday questioned the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) over the frequent collapse of the nation’s electricity grid, raising posers over the company’s management of the power transmission network.
The commission, in a public hearing held at its headquarters in Abuja, said it considers what has been happening in the past weeks, worrying and of significant public interest, describing it as embarrassing.

At the event attended by stakeholders in the sector, including Generation Companies (Gencos); Distribution Companies (Discos); professional bodies; experts; Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and members of the general public, the Chairman of NERC, Sanusi Garba, said the consultation was meant to get to the root of the problem.
Sanusi and his team of NERC commissioners who interrogated the Managing Director of the TCN, Dr Sule Abdulaziz, said that although grid collapse was not new, it was important to put a stop to it in the interest of the people and economy of Nigeria.

“We are here again and the commission’s intention is to truly give guidance towards finding a final solution to what is a very embarrassing moment for the country. In short, we have heard this story that infrastructure is old,  fragile, low generation, free governor control, all these high-tech stories that we seem to repeat over and over again about finding a solution.

“The reality is that what is truly happening with the national grid is impacting on the viability of not only the Gencos  that generate the energy and capacity but also the distribution companies. But most importantly, it’s also impacting on the quality of supply to customers,” he said.
According to the NERC chairman, manufacturing in Nigeria has also continued to suffer, following the inability of the value chain to deliver the right quality of supply to the real sector.

“There have been increases in stability of generation in the recent past arising from some of the actions taken from the policy side and the regulatory side. But to the extent that the whole nation suffers this kind of instability of the national grid is not something that we can gloss over.
“And that’s the underlying reason why the commission escalated this to all stakeholders. We’ll interrogate. But most importantly, we want to listen to those who have been there before. Those who have run the grid, not only in Nigeria but also in other jurisdictions,” Sanusi said.
In his presentation, the TCN’s Managing Director, Abdulaziz, who was represented by the Executive Director, Independent System Operator (ISO), Nafisat Ali, said in the last instance, a total load of 675mw grid power was lost, causing instability and eventually leading to a partial collapse.

Reeling out the challenges, the TCN stressed that there have been sudden loss of generation due to: Inadequate gas quantity (volume) or quality (pressure) as well as faults related to electrical, mechanical, control and thermal systems.

Abdulaziz added that the lack of ‘Free Governor Control’ by the generators was causing negative frequency response, most times causing system instability.

He also listed generation inadequacy due to equipment fault; failure of generating stations to absorb or produce reactive power as well as non-harmonisation of gas pipeline and power plant units maintenance schedule.

According to the TCN Chief Executive, non-compliance to annual maintenance schedule plan and lack of spinning reserve were also part of the problems.

On the challenges with TCN, he stated that some critical transmission lines were single circuits and need to be doubled, adding that insecurity and vandalism of power transmission equipment and other related facilities remain major challenges.

Abdulaziz stressed that aged, defective and obsolete transmission equipment, relay settings and coordination, lack of reliability centred maintenance, inadequate SCADA and Communication equipment and inadequate voltage compensating devices were to blame for the incessant grid collapse.

Others, he said, include frequent operation of circuits causing stress and damage to equipment, thereby increasing the need for more number of maintenance and equipment replacement and translating into cost and weak distribution networks.

This he said, leads to incessant tripping of 33kV and 11kV distribution feeders on the slightest rainfall or windstorm.

On strategies to mitigate future occurrence, the TCN MD listed the implementation of the SCADA system, relay settings/coordination, islanding of the grid and availability of high-quality gas in sufficient quantities for all generating stations.

He also harped on the introduction of penalties for violation of the grid code by the Gencos as well as enhancing security measures to combat transmission and pipeline vandalism.

“NERC should mandate Discos to consistently take up their contracted load allocation to ensure a reliable electricity supply for customers. Discos should adequately strengthen and maintain distribution networks to a reliable and consistent power supply,” he said.

In their presentation, the Gencos under the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) noted that the nation recorded 162 cases of grid collapse between 2013 and now.

Represented by the APGC Chief Executive, Dr Joy Ogaji, the Gencos  said the level of frequency fluctuation and frequency crippling on the grid cannot be cured by just a free governor.

“Before, the grid code specified or the switch is up to like four. But we have done our investigation and found out that sometimes the crippling is well over four, even up to 10 that is eating into somebody’s generation that would have fetched them money.

“So while I am not saying that spinning reserve is a solution, I believe that putting a spinning reserve and the free governor mode side by side can cure the volatility on the grid, because research shows that  steel mills operate on our grid, and we know what steel mills do to frequency,” she said.