On Monday, October 28, the Federal Government announced plans to explore a decentralized national power grid. This new system aims to prevent the entire country from experiencing blackouts simultaneously if the central grid fails.
During a press briefing at the presidential villa in Abuja, Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu explained that the government is focused on restoring electricity in the 17 northern states, highlighting that security issues have delayed repairs to damaged facilities.
Adelabu shared that the frequent grid failures are due to outdated infrastructure. “We have a national grid that is more than 50 years old,” he stated. “The transmission lines are weak, and many of the transformers are old.” He noted that the transformer that exploded at the Jeba plant was 47 years old, emphasizing the need for a complete upgrade of the system.
To address these issues, he proposed the creation of state or regional grids. “If there’s a problem in a particular line, it will not affect the others,” he explained. This decentralized approach would help minimize the impact of outages.
He also mentioned ongoing efforts to secure the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to fix the vandalized transmission lines that supply power to the north. “The President has instructed the National Security Adviser to provide security so that these lines can be restored,” he said.
Adelabu discussed the need for upgrades to key transmission lines, specifically the Shiroro-Kaduna line, which is crucial for northern electricity supply. He expressed optimism that once these upgrades are completed, power supply to the northern states will be more stable.
In addition to traditional power sources, Adelabu highlighted the potential of solar energy in the north. “We are working on a distributed power model,” he shared, where each of the northern states could have solar power installations. “The northern states enjoy an average of 10 hours of sunshine, which makes solar a viable option,” he added.
He also addressed concerns about compensating Nigerians for the days without electricity. “Yes, we are working on it,” he confirmed. “There should not be any billing for customers during the blackout periods.” He assured the public that he would meet with the chairperson of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the distribution companies to discuss this further.
In closing, Adelabu appealed to citizens in the north to be patient as the government works to restore power and protect the national grid from further vandalism.
