Ministry of Power partners NESP to hook 3, 937 settlements to national grid-official

The Ministry of Power and Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) have mapped out 3,937 settlements, 3,244,605 buildings within 60,183 kilometre radius in 23 states to be soon hooked up to the national grid.

Mr Temitope Fashedemi, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, disclosed this at the 5th National Council of Power (NACOP) meeting on Monday in Abuja, saying the settlements would be hooked up to 11 kilovolt and 33 kilovolt lines of the grid.

The meeting had as its theme: “Sustaining and Improving Electricity Supply through the Power Sector Value Chain for Socio-Economic Growth’’.

Fashedemi also said that Minimum Energy Performance (MEP), Energy Efficiency (EE) Household label and Standards have been developed and approved for lightings, refrigerators and Air-conditioners by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

He said that Nigerian standards for Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) panels, batteries, inverters and charge controllers are also being developed and to be approved by SON.

“ 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 Nigerian industries through the use of Independent System Operator (ISO)50001 has achieved 15 per cent energy savings in their industrial process, ‘’ 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 realisation of the Electricity Vision (EV) 30:30:30.

He said further that the vision seeks to make available 30 Gigwatts (GW) of electricity by year 2030 with 30 per cent of the energy mix coming from renewable energy sources.

“Despite the giant strides made since the enactment of the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act (EPSR) in 2005 and the Road Map for the Power Sector in 2010, there are still serious concerns affecting the various segments of the NESIGeneration,’’ he said.

The permanent secretary listed the challenges to include- inadequate gas supply affecting Power Plants Transmission, Right of Way (RoW) issues preventing building of new infrastructure and vandalisation of existing infrastructure.

Others are distribution -inadequate maintenance; persistence of cost reflective tariff by segment of the population.

“All these cause liquidity of the NESI and subsequently inadequate power to meet the needs of the people, he said..

Fashedemi said that NACOP was organised to stimulate the interest of stakeholders at all levels of government and private organisations in the power sector to generate and articulate ideas towards the development of the industry.

He said that this was with a view to formulating sustainable policies and initiatives for improved service delivery in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

Fashedemi said that the council was 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.

According to him, 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 un-served and underserved pre-urban, rural areas or areas with difficult terrains as well as strengthen the existing partnership in the sector. Given Nigeria’s enormous energy resources, ‘’ he said.

On his part, Mr Sule Abdulaziz, the Managing Director, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said that the company has made significant progress in its main mandates of grid expansion, grid maintenance, and grid operation since the last NACOP meeting.

Abdulaziz said that in of spite these achievements, TCN was aware that more needs to be done, adding this is the company’s driving force in its 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.

“TCN has addressed almost all the actions required of it from the last meeting. We have submitted the progress made to the secretariat of the NACOP in the Ministry of Power.

“TCN has made significant improvements in the grid, through its Nigeria Electricity Grid Maintenance, Expansion, and Rehabilitation Programme (NEGMERP),’’ he said.