Thursday,
October 17, 2024 -The Minister of
Power, Adebayo Adelabu, says there is a need to have power grids in different
regions or states to put an end to incessant grid collapses.
The
minister stated this on Wednesday when he unveiled Hexing Livoltek, an
electricity meter manufacturing company in the Lekki area of Lagos State.
Adelabu
also said grid collapses are almost inevitable in Nigeria given the deplorable
state of the country’s power infrastructure.
According
to him, having multiple power grids in each region and state would ensure
stability.
He noted
that the decentralisation of the power sector would help the plan to build
grids in each region, saying this was made possible by the Electricity Act
signed by President Bola Tinubu in 2023.
“This
Electricity Act has decentralised power. It has enabled all the subnational
governments, the state government and the local government, to be able to
participate in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity.
We all rely on a single national grid today; if there is a disturbance of the
national grid, it affects all 36 states. It shouldn’t be like that. This will
enable us to start moving gradually towards having regional groups and possibly
having state grids.
“And
each of these grids will be removed and shielded from each other. So, if
there’s a problem with a particular grid, only the state where it belongs will
be affected, not the entire nation. So, this is one of the impacts this
Electricity Act will have,” he stressed.
Touching
more on the grid collapse, he emphasised that the situation would be inevitable
without sufficient investment in the sector.
“We keep
talking about grid collapse. Grid collapse, grid collapse, whether it’s a total
collapse, partial collapse, or slight trip-off. This is almost inevitable as it
is today, given the state of our power infrastructure, the infrastructure is in
deplorable conditions, so why won’t you have trip-offs? Why won’t you have
collapses, either total or partial? It will continue to remain like this until
we can overhaul the entire infrastructure. What we do now is to make sure that
we manage it,” he declared.
Adelabu
maintained that there was no grid collapse in the last four months until it
happened again on Monday.
“In the
last four months, we have not heard of any grid collapse, except two days ago
when we had a partial collapse that didn’t even last two hours. So, what we
work on now is how to improve our response time, to bring it up each time it
collapses. There are transformers of 60 years old, and 50 years old, and you’re
expecting them to perform at the optimal rate. It is not possible. That is why
we need a lot of investments in this infrastructure to bring them up to speed,
to bring them up to the state that can give us a grid that will not collapse
again,” he enunciated.
Adelabu,
while unveiling the company, commended the firm for investing so much in
Nigeria at a time when some were divesting.
He said
the event marked a significant milestone in the journey of the sector towards a
more efficient and equitable electricity sector.
The
minister explained that the launch of t he meter factory represented a key
achievement in the ongoing efforts to prioritise local content, foster job
creation and The Chief Executive Officer of Hexing Group, Robert
Liang, expressed optimism about Hexing’s expansion into Nigeria, calling it a
pivotal moment for the company and a commitment to advancing clean energy in
the country.
“This is
a proud moment for the Hexing Group as we open our branch in Nigeria. It’s more
than just an office; it’s a step towards a future where clean energy drives the
growth of this great nation.”
Liang
emphasised Hexing’s three decades of leadership in smart energy systems, solar
technology, and digital infrastructure.
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