The lack of capital spending in the Transmission Company of Nigeria has been identified by industry watchers as key in the puzzle of why sufficient gains in the power sector, years after privatization, has not materialized. Concern over the lack of investment in the TCN is increasing, as an incapacitated TCN will significantly short, or fail to carry on the growing output of the several power generation plants, which are spread across the country. “The existing generation and network resources cannot sustain the entire load and hence load rotation schemes have been adopted. These results, said concessionaire to the TCN, Manitoba Hydro International, in an assessment of the TCN made to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
Manitoba Hydro has proposed capital spending on the TCN to the NERC, in order to boost its capacity to carry on more power load from the generation companies to the power distribution companies. The transmission system is also being riddled with problems of reliability and security, and is cur- rently inadequate for the major generation expansion projects that are in their planning or construction phases. Plans for expanding the TCN’s capacity has been laid out in Manitoba Hydro’s assessment to the NERC. A prioritized list of transmission network capital projects, which is currently underway is proposed to reach a total system capacity of 10 GW by 2017, and 20 GW by 2020. “The proposed system expansions are aimed at serving the existing loads as well as catering to the potential load growth over the next five years”, Manitoba Hydro said. “If properly funded, this plan will improve the overall security and quality of supply of electricity, and ensure that the system can efficiently evacuate unrestricted power from the generators to the distribution companies and large industrial and commercial users,” it further said.
Power output since the privatization has changed, but arguably for worse rather than for better. Adding to the several factors militating against the power sector, lower tariffs have also become an issue, as distribution companies are unable to realize sufficient revenue from the end users. Their inability to raise revenue is further carried on to the transmission company, which is then unable to fund capital projects. TCN’s Transmission System Development Plan and associated capital funding requirements will be expected to ramp up its capacity. As the National Integrated Power Project transmission construction program nears completion, the capacity of the transmission system is expected to reach around 7,000 MW. This represents the estimated total capacity of the network to wheel energy from generation to load over the 330/132 kV system. TCN aspires to increase the capacity of the grid from 7 GW up to 10 GW by 2017, and up to 20 GW by 2020. At the same time, TCN will need to refurbish older facilities to improve reliability and security.
In early 2013 Manitoba Hydro International Ltd. (MHI) was contracted to assist Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) with model development and system studies related to the ongoing system expansion projects. TCN’s Transmission Development Plan, under which the capex proposal has come, includes all of the line, substation and voltage compensation projects needed for the proposed 10 GW system model. If the transmission expan- sion project sees adequate capex, benefits will include an increase in electricity distribution; improved reliability; stabilized system voltage and reduced system losses. The national electrification rate of Nigeria remains at only around 25%, and even in the already electrified areas, power supplies are still too short to cover the demand.
Presently, families and manufacturers in the areas without access to electricity depend on the self-generation from diesel and petrol generators to gain electric power. However, self-generation is much more costly than the electricity supply from the grid. By the implementation of the project, Nigerians will be able to enjoy more electricity with lower cost.
