By Constance Athekame
Some power sector engineers have called on the Federal Government and stakeholders to invest more in the sector to ensure the stability of the grid.
The experts said this in Abuja yesterday.
Due to the incessant grid collapses, the country has experienced several power outages.
It should be remembered that the grid collapsed on October 14, and power was only restored on October 15. Another collapse occurred on October 19, making it the second within a week and the seventh in 2024.
Also, on October 21, the Northern part of the country was plunged into darkness when the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) lines tripped off due to a fault.
Mr Israel Abraham, the President of the Chartered Institute of Power Engineers (CIPEN), said that power infrastructure needed extensive maintenance and that equipment maintenance was very costly.
Abraham said that the grid often collapses because the generation, distribution, and transmission companies do not provide constant maintenance.
“The transmission company is doing its best, but more needs to be done, which should be done massively.
“A lot of things need to be put in place, and a lot of funds are required to upgrade power facilities to the level where we can be sure that things are in the right place. For instance, the last collapse resulted from shattered equipment that helped to manage the grid.
“If that equipment was maintained or replaced, it could not have gotten burnt easily, and the possibility of it getting blown and breaking down would have been avoided,” he said.
He said the equipment breakdown affected other things, leading to a collapse.
Abraham also said discipline was essential in managing the grid by ensuring the right things were done.
According to him, the regulator, especially the system operators, directs the grid managers to do the right thing, which is referred to as discipline.
He said that anyone who fails to comply with their directives would be sanctioned, and this would apply to the generation, transmission, and distribution companies.
“All of them are supposed to comply with the instruction of the grid operator. So grid discipline is one of the major things that has to be done,” he said.
Mr Denis Ukwuez, the Executive Director of CIPEN, said that the primary cause of non-performance in the power sector was the lack of adequate financing.
Ukwuez said there were projects in the power sector that had been there for more than 20 years and had not been completed.
”We have projects in transmission that have been there for more than 20 years and have not been completed. Some of these power plants are taking over 30 years to be completed because of funding,” he said.
He also said that the government was facing some challenges, including displacement and compensation that were to be settled, adding that the sector’s budget was usually too low.
According to him, the lack of adequate knowledge and the ability to do the right thing also contribute to the sector’s underperformance.
