By Hosea parah, Abuja
The Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Power, Nebeolisa Anako has announced the power sector mapped out of over 3,937 settlements, 3,244,605 buildings and 60,183km of 11 and 33kV medium voltage line of the grid in 23 states.
Anako disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the fifth edition of the National Council on Power (NACOP) on Monday in Abuja. this year’s theme is “Sustaining and Improving Electricity Supply through the Power Sector Value Chain for SocioEconomic Growth” is apt.
He said the Federal Ministry of Power is saddled with the responsibility to ensure adequate generation, transmission and distribution of power nation-wide. “The Ministry in discharging this mandate is guided by the provisions of the National Electric Power Policy (NEPP) of 2001, the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act of 2005, and the Roadmap for Power Sector Reform of August 2010.”
He stressed that NACOP is organized to stimulate the interest of stakeholders at all levels of government and private organizations in the Power Sector to generate and articulate ideas towards the development of the industry with a view to formulating sustainable policies and initiatives for improved service delivery in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
“Transmission- Right of Way (RoW) issues preventing building of new
infrastructure and vandalization of existing infrastructure.
Distribution- Inadequate Maintenance; Persistence of cost reflective tariff by segment of the population.”
He added that the Council is expected to design an action log to track the implementation of the decisions and directives at the meeting and ensure policy initiatives that will make available, sustainable power supply within the shortest possible time.
” It should also fast track Government’s effort in diversifying the energy mix, promote renewable energy sources from solar, wind, biomass, hydros and coal to power, increase electricity access to unserved and underserved pre-urban, rural areas or areas with difficult terrains as well as strengthen the existing partnership in the sector.” He said.
According to him, given Nigeria’s enormous energy resources, its huge human capital and population demography, it is obvious that creating an enabling environment is a critical component in the realization of the Electricity Vision (EV) 30:30:30 which seeks to make available 30GW of electricity by year 2030 with 30% of the energy mix coming from renewable energy sources.
He said, the Ministry through collaboration under Nigerian Energy Support Program (NESP) has achieved a lot of improvement among which the Six solar PV mini-grids developed under NESP I is providing sustainable electricity to more than 15,000 people as at 2020, and 100,000 additional people would be reached under NESP II through the Mini-grid Acceleration Scheme (MAS);
“The Building Energy Efficiency (BEE) Code has been developed and introduced in three states (Lagos, plateau and Kano) in the country; and The Energy Efficiency Network (EEN) in the Nigerian industries through the use of ISO 50001 has achieved 15% energy savings in their industrial process.
Earlier in an address, the Managing Director/ CEO of TCN Engr. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz assured sufficient transmission delivery capacity for the next 30 years in FCT and it’s environs.These will ensure that the capital city has adequate redundancies in supply sources .
He said TCN has made significant progress in its main mandates: grid expansion, grid maintenance, and grid operation, this is our driving force in our continuous effort to expand the grid, increase our efficiency and enhance our capacity to meet the bulk electricity needs of our customers across the country.
He further said, TCN has made significant improvements in the grid, through its Nigeria Electricity Grid Maintenance, Expansion, and Rehabilitation Program (NEGMERP). Under the NEGMERP, new substations such as 2x60MVA, 132/33KV Substations at Gagarawa, Wudil, Ukpilla, Daura, Awka, and Bichi Mobile Station were all completed.
He said the project is bringing in five new substations (one fully completed at Dawaki ) to the city of Abuja and creating the third 330kV infeed to the city via the Lafia 330kV station in Nassarawa. The project also consists of new lines to connect the new stations to themselves and existing stations in Abuja Metropolitan area. “
He said recently, TCN took delivery of twenty-two brand new power transformers; spare parts and other critical equipment which were delivered to TCN Central Store in Ojo, Lagos State.
He explained that some of these projects are the Ogba-Alausa 132kV Transmission line, Ikeja west Alimosho 132kV Transmission Line, Kumbotso-Hadeja 132kV SC, kumbotso-Kankia 132kV SC, Birnin Kebbi -Sokoto 132kV Transmission Line, Ahaoda Garrain Yenagoa 132kV Transmission Line and Alaoji-Owerri 132kV Transmission line DC Line 1 among others.
Meanwhile,the grid encountered system disturbances: occasioned by sudden drop in generation brought about by the disruption in gas supply to power stations; and by vandalism of transmission lines.
“TCN is equally confronting the problem of illiquidity in the electricity market. Payment for TCN services in the market has gone down from 55% to 30% in the recent past and with that, funds coming to TCN in the form of revenue has also reduced drastically” He said.
He said this can only be achieved when we continue to work collaboratively with other stakeholders in the Power Sector, with a clear understanding of our responsibilities and those of others, in achieving an efficient and effective Power Sector.
Therefore TCN seeks the support of the States in acquiring Right of Way and dealing with encumbrances on our existing right of way and the States support in addressing vandalism and encroachment of soil around our towers.