Why Nigeria’s electricity grid collapses and how to shore it up

The grid collapse can be attributed to the following major factors:

1.low water levels at the hydropower plants, low gas supply at the gas power plants and fire at the largest power generating station

2.load rejection and inability of the transmission companies to wheel electricity from generators to distributors

3.archaic and weak national grid

4.poor utility performance and theft/vandalisation of grid equipment

5.insufficient funding to upgrade from analogue to a smart grid

6.extraordinary transmission and distribution losses (up to 18%, with an average above 8%) due to aged electricity infrastructure.

What can be done?

The first step is to optimally generate electricity.

To achieve this, the Transmission Company of Nigeria can upgrade and increase transformer capacity. The distribution companies recently improved the network and are willing to take up demand from consumers. This can reduce the issue of load rejections.

Second, a better revenue collection method is needed and there needs to be a wider distribution of prepaid meters.

Third, the Nigerian lawmakers recently supported the constitutional amendment bill to allow state governments to generate and transmit their own electricity. This presents an opportunity to investors and industries to participate in the Nigerian energy market. Also, the states or businesses can transmit excess supply to the national grid. Micro-grid projects could also expand to send excess power to the national grid.

Fourth, a modern smart grid would enable data to flow between consumers and electricity retailers. This will enable grid operators to match electricity supply with demand, understand consumer behaviour and plan grid expansion.

Finally, the Nigerian government should speed up efforts to decentralise the national grid. This can be through mini-grids driven by renewable energy sources like solar photovoltaic and wind turbines.

The effect would be increased local reliability of electric power supply, especially in the rural and peri-urban communities.