By Oluseye Ojo
Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has announced plans of the Federal Government to build a super power grid for the country.
He made the disclosure at the commissioning of a 63MVA, 132/33kV Mobile Substation at the Eleyele Transmission Substation in Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday.
The project was implemented under the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) by the FGN Power Company, in collaboration with Siemens Energy, which is aimed at modernising Nigeria’s power infrastructure.
Adelabu stated that in a bid to achieve the project, the National Assembly on Wednesday, this week, approved a $18.2billion loan for Nigeria to build the new power grid that would be of super status.
“The issue of this national grid, it will be beyond repairing our existing grid to make sure that it works well. It has suffered from years of neglect. It has become old, dilapidated and ineffective.
“Just yesterday (Wednesday), at the National Assembly, we have just approved a $18.2billion loan, to ensure that we install what we call a super grid. Let’s give our legislators a round of applause. A super grid is an alternative grid. It’s a backup grid. It’s a fallover grid.”
Adelabu noted that till date Nigeria has a single grid, adding that whenever there is a bottleneck, the country would not get light.
“But if there is a backup and fall over grid, it’s a matter of redirecting the movement of energy from the main grid to the backup grid,” he said.
Adelabu assured Nigerians that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration would ensure that the super grid comes to fruition.
On the commissioning, he said: “This new substation will significantly improve the transmission wheeling capacity by 50.4MW, directly benefiting households and businesses in Eleyele and its environs…
The mobile substation at Eleyele has enabled the radiation of more feeders to Apete, Ologun-Eru, The Polytechnic Ibadan, Sango and Bodija, fostering opportunities for new businesses to emerge in Eleyele due to the improved electricity supply.”
Managing Director of FGN Power Company, Mr. Kenny Anuwe, stated that the state-of-the-art mobile substation would provide innovative solutions to Nigeria’s power challenges.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), Francis Agoha, represented by the company’s head of technical services, Folasade Sanya, described the new power substation as a great leap forward in the power project in Nigeria.
Alawotan of Awotan, Oba Dauda Omotosho, who thanked President Tinubu and Minister of Power for the project, appealed to IBEDC to ensure availability of prepaid meters for beneficiaries of the project as well as regular power supply.
