The Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr Usman Gur Mohammed, said three attempts for a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) to monitor the electricity grid have failed, with one project costing $46 million (about N16.586 billion). SCADA system is a modern tool for real time data and voice exchange between remote power stations and the National Control Centre (NCC), experts have noted.
In an exclusive interview, Mohammed said: “Nigeria has failed attempts to have a functional SCADA three times. The last one was between 2006 and 2007 when I was in the Project Management Unit (PMU) of TCN when World Bank financed it and Nigeria spent about $46 million. However, the SCADA had significant deficiency that it cannot see more than 40 percent of the network.”
He said a committee was established to review the failed SCADA project along with the Power Grid of India, among other experts. To save the national grid for frequent system collapse, Mohammed also said the Nigeria Electricity and Regulatory Commission (NERC) has approved that TCN procures 300MW spinning reserve which will be raised to 450MW gradually to meet the 10 percent requirement for a 4,500MW national grid.
