Politically speaking, glitches are expected to occur in every human endeavor but when such events become too frequent, it calls for thorough investigation with a view to minimizing same. 

At about 1638Hrs of Thursday 28/03/2024, the Nigerian National Grid suffered another general blackout, popularly referred to as System Collapse making it the second this year after that of 4th of February. While we await the cause of this event as data are being collated to ascertain the cause, it is necessary to highlight some basic limitations of the Grid for the necessary action of those concerned.

Amongst the likely causes of system collapses is the fact that the nation is currently battling with low generation because of gas constraints to thermal stations and this situation puts immense pressure on the grid as demand far outstrips supply. However, when the dams start harvesting rain water, the hydro power stations will increase their output and this will have positive impact on the system in terms of supply.

A system collapse can also occur when generators develop fault and there are multiple tripping of transmission lines as a result of infractions/faults. This causes imbalance between supply and demand sides and may lead to grid downtime either partially or totally.

As mentioned earlier, addressing some of such limitations is necessary to fortify the grid and improve its reliability.

There is need to install a functional Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) facility at the National Control Centre (NCC) for effective monitoring and control of grid activities.

There is need to make adequate reserves available on the grid, starting with Primary Reserve (Free Governor Control) that is statutory. It is a condition before Generators are dispatched and should be strictly enforced.

The Market should strive to provide necessary funds to procure Secondary Reserve (Spinning Reserve) and with a functional SCADA system, monitoring compliance will become very effective. Transmission stations must monitor lines with Under-Frequency Relays (Tertiary Reserve) installed on them to avoid load diversion.

In addition to making Reserves available, continuous protection review and relay coordination is necessary for faulty sections to be properly segmented. With the proliferation of Steel Mills connected to the National Grid, they should install Filters for adequate Harmonic Compensation.

The government should encourage the diversification of Generation Mix so that the National Grid can enjoy the benefits of the peculiar Technical Characteristics of the various generation sources.

In a nutshell, putting the above safety nets in place as well as paying adequate attention to both the quantity and quality of available power supply are necessary for the National Grid to become more robust thereby significantly reducing the incidences of System Collapses.