FG to construct super grid to end incessant power collapse

In a bid to stop incessant national grid collapse, the Federal Government has concluded plans to construct what it called a super grid.

The media aide to the Minister of Power, Bolaji Tunji, disclosed this in a statement he made available to our correspondent on Tuesday.

According to him, the power minister, Adebayo Adelabu, spoke in China where he attended the China-Africa Cooperation Summit.

Adelabu had condemned the national grid, saying its present state cannot support the vision for the power sector.

“If we look at the strength, the capacity and the age of our existing network on the national grid, it cannot really support our vision for the power sector hence the need for the construction of the Western and Eastern super grid.

“Though we have been on this since my resumption, I can also tell you that the President is in full support of this because this will improve our transmission network, stabilise the grid and also expand the capacity and the flexibility of the national grid,” he stated.

Adelabu said 90 per cent of the approval required is in place and would be concluded soon.

The PUNCH reported in May that a former Minister of Power, Barth Nnaji, advocated for a super grid to end the incessant collapse of the national power grid.

Nnaji said the current national grid kept collapsing because it was not well structured.

Nnaji stated that the power ministry under his watch had years ago sought the approval of the Federal Executive Council to build what he called a super grid, a 765KV network that would rise above the existing 330 KV.

According to him, the 765KV is large enough to take power from high-capacity plants like the Manbilla Power Plant.

He revealed that the country has yet to have a transmission network that could wheel power from Manbilla when completed.

“Another critical area in Nigeria’s power sector is the transmission network. I believe that having the national grid the way we have it still going to be a problem. First, it is not robust, and it is not well structured. My advocacy is for multiple grids, autonomous but connected to the national grid. So that the national grid still operates, and it will be more robust. It will begin to cure the regular incident of the failure of the national grid.

“When I was in government, we asked the Federal Executive Council to approve what we called a super grid, a 765KV network that will kind of rise above the existing 330KV network. Right now, Nigeria has 330KV and 132KV, but none of them is really robust. But the 765KV network will be very important to take power from power plants such as the Manbilla that has been on for a while. Over 10,000 megawatts of power will come from Manbilla. So, the question is, which transmission infrastructure will take that power suppose that we finish it now? We need a super grid to take that power so that Nigeria has the ability to take power from various plants and transmit it to wherever we want it,” he disclosed.

The Chairman of Geometric Power commended the incumbent power minister, Adebayo Adelabu, for reviving the super grid project.

The PUNCH recalls that the national grid collapsed more than five times in 2024, plunging Nigerians into darkness.