From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government has announced a plan to boost the nation’s power transmission capacity to 10,000 Megawatts by 2026.
This was disclosed by the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Sule Abdulaziz, during the meet-the-press programme at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday. He noted that for the first time in the nation’s history, the power sector recorded a peak generation of 5,801.84mw of electricity at 9.15 pm on March 4.
“With the numerous TCN transmission projects completed in the last two years and new ones currently underway, as well as the 8,500MW current evacuation capability of the company, I can confidently state that in less than two years from now, the TCN will conveniently evacuate 10,000 megawatts generated power,” the TCN Chief noted.
Abdulaziz further noted that the World Bank-sponsored projects have added 6,000MVA of transmission capacity to the grid, with an additional 3,000MVA in progress.
Other ongoing projects include the new Kano-Kaduna 330kV DC transmission line, the Zaria 330kv substation, and the 132kv substation in Jaji, Kaduna State, funded by the African Development Bank. He said the Presidential Power Initiative under the FGN Power Company, aka SIEMENS project, has also delivered 10 mobile substations, seven of which have been installed, alongside 10 transformers of various ratings connected to the grid.
“The FGN power company is the special purpose vehicle for implementing the presidential power initiative. Having completed the pilot phase of the Siemens project with the installation of the transformers, Phase 1B of the project has been approved by the FEC for the reinforcement of seven existing transmission substations,” he said.
Abdulaziz clarified that while TCN does not directly manage the project, the FGN Power Company, a sister agency, is overseeing its execution.
Under Phase 1A, Siemens has already supplied and installed seven out of 10 mobile substations, along with 10 additional transformers. The next phase, Phase 1B, will reinforce existing transmission substations, further increasing Nigeria’s power transmission capacity. He disclosed that future phases of the project are already being considered.”
He argued that strengthening grid reliability has led the TCN to develop the Generation Load Drop Sensitivity system, which prevents cascading failures in the absence of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system.
Abdulaziz also revealed that the ongoing SCADA project, currently 69 percent completed, would further improve real-time monitoring and grid efficiency upon completion.
He attributed the success achieved in expanding the transmission grid and increase in the nation’s capacity to the support of the Federal Government through the Ministry of Power.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, had last October, said the FG secured the commitment of several contractors and financiers willing to invest between $1 billion and $2 billion to install 50MW in each of the 19 northern states.
It said that when operational, these solar plants would leverage the region’s high sunlight exposure and reduce the load on the struggling national grid.
However, Abdulaziz clarified that only 10 percent of total generation could be sourced from solar power without destabilising the grid.