Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, announced that 150 megawatts of the proposed 750-megawatt national grid expansion will be completed by the end of this year.
Adelabu disclosed this in a statement to State House Correspondents on Thursday, revealing that the project is 80% complete and ready for launch.
Investors King gathered that the frequent collapse of the national grid is due to weak infrastructure, among other factors.
However, Adelabu expressed optimism that the ongoing work would enhance the system’s reliability, stating, “When we are done with the Phase One project in transmission, the entire grid will not remain the same.”
He assured, “This is a very old grid. It’s quite fragile and deteriorating. We need to revamp the entire grid to ensure stability going forward.”
According to him, the new development underscores the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), aimed at boosting the nation’s electricity supply and addressing persistent energy challenges that negatively impact economic development.
It should be recalled that the national grid has experienced several collapses since the beginning of this administration.
However, through the government’s PPI, an upgrade was launched to stabilize the national grid and put an end to the frequent collapses that result in blackouts.
Adelabu stated that the ministry has imported the necessary facilities to ensure a stable electricity supply.
“We have completed the pilot phase of this project up to 80%. This includes the importation, installation, and commissioning of 10 power transformers and 10 mobile power substations. These have been imported, installed, and most have been commissioned. We have just about two left to be commissioned before the end of the year,” Adelabu said.
“The positive impact of this is that it has added nothing less than 750 megawatts to our transmission grid capacity. This is why we are seeing relative stability in the grid today, which is a direct result of the pilot stage completion. We believe that before the end of the year, an additional 150-megawatt capacity will be added upon the full completion of the pilot phase,” he added.