THE
TRANSMISSION SECTOR
The Transmission sector of electricity
distribution in Nigeria serves as a form of a middleman in the electricity
supply sector.
This sector is responsible for ensuring that electricity
generated from the generation stations gets to the distribution companies who
distribute them to you and me, the consumers.
This transmission is done through the high tension grid wires, running from
the generation companies through to the various states of the federation.
The transmission sector was not fully
privatized as it is in the generation and distribution sectors. The federal
government of Nigeria retained the transmission of power through its agency
called TCN (Transmission Company of Nigeria). In order to ensure efficiency,
the federal government employed the services of a Canadian firm to manage this
TCN and maintain its equipments.
This Canadian company is called MAINTOBA HYDRO INTERNATIONAL. This
company was tasked with ensuring that the total amount of electricity generated
in the country is shared and transmitted to various distribution companies; who
sends them to the final consumers.
For instance, if 3,000 megawatts of
electricity is generated by the various generation stations, these 3,000
megawatts will be divided up among the 11 distribution companies existing in
Nigeria based on their quota and the amount of electricity paid for. EKO DISTRIBUTION COMPANY alone cannot buy up
all 3,000 megawatts leaving none for ENUGU DISTRIBUTION COMPANY. There are
quotas for every distribution company in Nigeria to buy from. These quotas will
be discussed in the next post.
PROBLEMS
WITH THIS SECTOR
A reliable source in the transmission
company of Nigeria has stated the reason why Nigeria may not be able to
generate and transmit more than 4,000 megawatts of electricity is because the high tension wires that transmit the
generated electricity are not strong enough to carry such large amounts of
electricity.
He stated that the wires can only
transmit less than 4,000 megawatts; anything above this, will lead to a total
blackout in the whole country. Such a total blackout caused by “Over generation
of Electricity” took place in March 2016 in Nigeria
What an irony, where more electricity
generated leads to power outage instead of constant power…
Are you beginning to get the hang of
it?
UP NEXT DISTRIBUTION SECTOR
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