nwamehn:

Come to think of it, if we can't violate the agreement and that we need to still be paying Niger not to build their own dams as Fashola said, why would Niger be building that Kandadji dam?
We just seem to be comfortable with the status quo without applying the brains of the numerous well-grounded civil engineers that abound in the country to find another way around it. Science and engineering keep on evolving, what obtained in 1960 might not be what would obtain in 2017. Even at that, the technical know-how applied by the builders of Jebba dam in the 80's that made it still sustained up till now in spite of Kainji being higher up would still be enough. 
So, our government had better woken up Sir.

1. The Kandadji Dam was built and doesnt affect the water flow.

2. Nigeria was consulted and considered before the project.

The average loss through evaporation and modification of the Niger River water flows in Nigeria will be low (2.3% at Jebba) and there will be positive impacts by improving the minimum water level in Nigeria.

3. Their electricity situation in Niger Republic is worse.

4. The dam only 130 mw. Which the could have and still could make bigger if Nigeria wants to go back on deal.

5. The recommendations to build more dams don't know about.

6. Chasing a few megawatts in short term when they could just build their own and keep power and sell us excess doesn't make sense.

7. We can benefit more tapping our own resources without having to sit at negotiations table with weak hand.

8. We going to to have interconnected grid long term. The power going to be bought and sold across the block anyway.

[quote author=Blue3k post=58399710]

1. Ur first statement is exactly my pt sir. They built kandadji yet the water flow to kainji wasn't affected. Even if they build 700mw dam, we can always find way around it technologically better than giving them whereas we don't even have enough here. Remember that kainji is over 700mw while jebba is 570mw yet jebba hasn't shut down.
2. What about so many dams built along nile from Egypt down to even Uganda yet they ar functional?
3. In Asia, just for the sake of generating more power, they build more dams along one river and the dams ar sustained, what can u also say abt that?
4. Regarding ur number 7, in my own view, we need no negotiation from Niger or Benin, let them build their dams and we still build ours with no much pain, just as Asians do, other African countries did in Nile and even just as we did in Jebba.
5. Quite alright sir, dams affect current but technologies abound to always tackle these, why can't we think of this rather than continually giving Niger, Benin what we don't have? For how long?
6. Look at the link for the authorisation of 3 dams since 2008. Kandjadji was among the three dams authorised:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/10/west-africa-niger-river-under-pressure-from-dams/

i can see that the populace is becoming enlightened and educated by the day. A lot of things is wrong with the structure of this nation. Mind you, many of these structures, policies were good at the point of inception, but they were only good for those times. What went wrong? Why did we go back to sleep after we built many of these structures and infrastructures (whether tangible or intangible) in the pre and post independence era?

Nigeria, truly has got no think-tanks.

If we had futuristic leaders at the helm of affairs in the time past, they would have been able to project and set foundations for constant upgrade and improvement s in the policies they made and in the infrastructures they built. We should take a cue from china.

To the subject of this thread; at the time when those treaties/agreements or whatever was signed with these countries, Nigeria needed the Kanji Dam so strongly. But as static as we were (are), we didnt make provision for any default. We should realise that the promise that parties involved would uphold their own part of the bargain is a flimsy excuse for Nigeria. We claimed we are the giant of Africa, we wanted to be the industrial hub of Africa, our population as at 1980's was still the highest in africa, even at that time. So relying on power production from kanji and a few energy plants even at that time is an aberration and a big slap to the so called think-tanks at that time.

To add more fuel to the ravaging fire was the population explosion that Nigeria experienced. It will interest us to know that Nigeria's population was only 45.1 million in 1960 and given the country's level of energy demand and industrial development, the power capacity was just enough and we could call our dear country the "giant of Africa". But seriously, we dont expect the same 22 cm diameter pot that cooked 4 cups of rice for a family of 4 to still cook the same quantity for a family of 23. You have to get a bigger pot and increase the quantity of the rice.


There is no need going to deep into the history of our carelessness and foolishness as a nation.

What is the way forward?

The reality of things in the power sector has fully dawned on the Honorable Minister but I am disappointed in him because he has been given to accept that reality, he is now singing the same bullshit narrative and excuse that those bastards (yorubas will call them alainikanshe l.e those that have no good will for this country) sang to us.

We know the situation of things, but we want a leader who will be disruptive; a leader who will challenge the status quo; a leader who will come up with innovative and sustainable ideas and implement them.

The energy sector in Nigeria as we know it is an arena filled with all kinds of inefficiencies, corrupt people, saboteurs and many agents from the pits of hell.

First and foremost is the aberration called National Grid. At this point, we should realize that whatever structure that worked for country A might not work for country B, even if country B will adopt country A's strategy, it must consider the factors and conditions that are peculiar to her. So the need for a modification. Nigeria's generation capacity is around 12000MW. Transmission capacity is around 5500MW and the distribution capacity is only around 4400MW. Mind you, these figures hold for an idealized system working at 100% capacity. Of course generation is hovering around 4000Mw and eventually, what gets to the consumers (185.99 million nigerians) via DISCOs is around 2050MW. All these are attributed to the miserable inefficiencies associated with the kind of National Grid we have in Nigeria.

There have been new power plants installed, commissioned and some are being built as of today. But the reality is that no one is talking about revamping the already dead transmission lines that runs several kilometers around the country. It is an oversight; a deliberate omission So even if our generation capacity goes to 20000MW today, only 2050MW will still get to the consumers. Shall we rerun new set of electricity transmission cables all over Nigeria again? (Now you know what the $16billion Obasanjo's administration misappropriated could have done to the power sector) Humour me

Clearly, National grid cannot accelerate the needed growth we want.

So let us revisit whatever constitution or policy that set the framework of the power and energy sector in Nigeria.

I would propose that while we include more energy sources into our energy mix, we should at once focus more on decentralizing power (both energy power and political power ). The preachers of renewable energy should please read up on the economics of renewable energy. It would be great to achieve what Denmark, Germany, Switzerland have achieved in the area of renewable energies, but i will ask you to look at these countries and see what is common to them all; they are developed countries and that is why renewable energy can thrive. To a very large extent, generating power via renewable is cheaper than via fossil fuel. They were able to overcome the challenge of renewables' intermittent supply.
But this wont be obtainable in third world and developing countries like Nigeria, from cost perspective. A good scenario is the Massive solar PV/Solar Concentrator project in Morocco. The project was an initiative of the govt of Morocco and the European Union, but the European union backed out at the execution stage because of project's sustainability and viability even though morocco has impressive solar irradiation. Morocco went on with it and the first stage has been completed.
Let us develop more coal plants, ensure that we have uninterrupted supply of gas to our gas stations etc. But what i propose today is to have stand alone power plants. I am 100% percent sure that investors will troop in if it is no longer a must to supply to the National grid.

Investors will focus its resources on a particular area/municipality/town/state and provide uninterrupted supply. You will see how rapid the development will be. For Example, if Ajaokuta's 22MW plant focuses on Ajaokuta and its environment, industries around that region will be guaranteed of power, more industries would likely be set up there; which in turn gives the powerplant the flexibility to scale up; to expand in order to meet the increasing demands. Redemption camp with its 10MW diesel and gas turbines is a taste of what all nigerians should be enjoying. So is Winners Canaan land.

But is our Honorable Minister ready to do the needful?

If you want to take your passion for energy to the next level, you want your voice to be heard, send a Private Message

I will see you someday. Na one full crate of your brand I go buy you. It will be frosty chilled bro. Trust me.

nwamehn:


U almost killed me with laugh with that last sentence. But funny enough, that's exactly what Nigeria is doing. Keeping her children hungry and selling her food to her neighbour because she is afraid of being slapped. Pathetic!
Instead of our leaders since the 60's that Kainji dam was built, to find other solutions to hydroelectric power to avert whatever danger Niger dams would pose like the solutions u pointed out just now, they prefer to tell us stories of how they pay Niger not to build dam. Which sort of dumb leaders has Nigeria been blessed with since all these years?

But boss, can u change that wine to beer? I think I prefer beer to wine.

And yet you are the realjoker? Didnt even see your moniker all the while.
Keep the jokes up. they arent just funny.

realjoker:


I have encountered you several times and I can boldly tell that You are planted to keep people wasting their precious time here on this forum

At the Bolded. keep fooling yourself, because in Benin republic where it peak power demands is projected to be around 1,200MW and 36% of people living in its urban areas and 3% in its rural areas having access to electricity in which 2-3 urban settlement are guaranteed steady power supply while others are not doesn't means they enjoy better electricity than us where over 40% of people living in rural areas and 100% of people living in urban areas have access to electricity and both rural and urban areas are guaranteed of fair share of the available generated power.

Good mate. Nigeria's problem is not only this mammoth because we have a lazy set of leaders; Lazy intellectually and physically, but because we have a hardened base of the populace who are ready to swallow every rubbish that they spew. I am not ready for that, and when I see a youth thinking naively when he should be innovative, I try as hard as I can to reset his cerebrum to international default. We are this backward for such small things. They should keep selling to Niger and Benin, while leaving our power narratives on 4500mw year in year out like a finely oiled yoyo we never make improvements of this.
Good mate. The Mortician!!!

TheMortician:
1 billion likes, sir. What a way to send a decomposing corpse to his waiting coffin.

Sorry for the language. But I cut ignoramus hard.

shervydman:

since u really want my contribution......i'll give it to u.

mediocrity runs in ur vein instead of blood. Nigeria; a country of 180m people needs at least 100000mw!!! of electricity for proper industrialization and house-hold supply, now, we're generating only 4000mw and u think all is well?

why should we give other countries what we don't have and then suffer for it than the "other" countries we give? oh, lest I forget, u said it with that ass of a thing u call mouth or rather type it with that match-stick u call fingers that we give them only 1% of it so that they won't dam the river and yet receive billions from them. just listen to urself out of shame!!

we need to generate MORE POWER and stop depending on those outdated dams. very soon, the mambilla dam will be complete alongside tiga and co. which is a welcome development but we fvcking need more than that before we can even boast of 18hrs daily electricity supply at every grid.

u know nada about simple things as u've shown here and I hope heavens help u to understand this since no mortal body can do that.

When should Nigeria abandon the outdated dam, right now or later in the future when there are other means of electricity?

We all on Nairaland know that Nigeria's demands outstrip her supply yet reality shows that Kainji is damn important. And it does not make sense to remove substantial MWs Kainji produces

ElSherriff:
And yet you are the realjoker? Didnt even see your moniker all the while.
Keep the jokes up. they arent just funny.

Seems like you love back and forth unproductive arguments, if you think there is need to break out of this bilateral agreements you can spearhead a campaign calling for its cancelation. But this your nairaland rant won't change the status quo, As long as Nigeria keep generating power from Kanji and Jebba dams and this countries still depends on us we will keep selling to them.

bellyjean:
i can see that the populace is becoming enlightened and educated by the day. A lot of things is wrong with the structure of this nation. Mind you, many of these structures, policies were good at the point of inception, but they were only good for those times. What went wrong? Why did we go back to sleep after we built many of these structures and infrastructures (whether tangible or intangible) in the pre and post independence era?

Nigeria, truly has got no think-tanks.

If we had futuristic leaders at the helm of affairs in the time past, they would have been able to project and set foundations for constant upgrade and improvement s in the policies they made and in the infrastructures they built. We should take a cue from china.

To the subject of this thread; at the time when those treaties/agreements or whatever was signed with these countries, Nigeria needed the Kanji Dam so strongly. But as static as we were (are), we didnt make provision for any default. We should realise that the promise that parties involved would uphold their own part of the bargain is a flimsy excuse for Nigeria. We claimed we are the giant of Africa, we wanted to be the industrial hub of Africa, our population as at 1980's was still the highest in africa, even at that time. So relying on power production from kanji and a few energy plants even at that time is an aberration and a big slap to the so called think-tanks at that time.

To add more fuel to the ravaging fire was the population explosion that Nigeria experienced. It will interest us to know that Nigeria's population was only 45.1 million in 1960 and given the country's level of energy demand and industrial development, the power capacity was just enough and we could call our dear country the "giant of Africa". But seriously, we dont expect the same 22 cm diameter pot that cooked 4 cups of rice for a family of 4 to still cook the same quantity for a family of 23. You have to get a bigger pot and increase the quantity of the rice.


There is no need going to deep into the history of our carelessness and foolishness as a nation.

What is the way forward?

The reality of things in the power sector has fully dawned on the Honorable Minister but I am disappointed in him because he has been given to accept that reality, he is now singing the same bullshit narrative and excuse that those bastards (yorubas will call them alainikanshe l.e those that have no good will for this country) sang to us.

We know the situation of things, but we want a leader who will be disruptive; a leader who will challenge the status quo; a leader who will come up with innovative and sustainable ideas and implement them.

The energy sector in Nigeria as we know it is an arena filled with all kinds of inefficiencies, corrupt people, saboteurs and many agents from the pits of hell.

First and foremost is the aberration called National Grid. At this point, we should realize that whatever structure that worked for country A might not work for country B, even if country B will adopt country A's strategy, it must consider the factors and conditions that are peculiar to her. So the need for a modification. Nigeria's generation capacity is around 12000MW. Transmission capacity is around 5500MW and the distribution capacity is only around 4400MW. Mind you, these figures hold for an idealized system working at 100% capacity. Of course generation is hovering around 4000Mw and eventually, what gets to the consumers (185.99 million nigerians) via DISCOs is around 2050MW. All these are attributed to the miserable inefficiencies associated with the kind of National Grid we have in Nigeria.

There have been new power plants installed, commissioned and some are being built as of today. But the reality is that no one is talking about revamping the already dead transmission lines that runs several kilometers around the country. It is an oversight; a deliberate omission So even if our generation capacity goes to 20000MW today, only 2050MW will still get to the consumers. Shall we rerun new set of electricity transmission cables all over Nigeria again? (Now you know what the $16billion Obasanjo's administration misappropriated could have done to the power sector) Humour me

Clearly, National grid cannot accelerate the needed growth we want.

So let us revisit whatever constitution or policy that set the framework of the power and energy sector in Nigeria.

I would propose that while we include more energy sources into our energy mix, we should at once focus more on decentralizing power (both energy power and political power ). The preachers of renewable energy should please read up on the economics of renewable energy. It would be great to achieve what Denmark, Germany, Switzerland have achieved in the area of renewable energies, but i will ask you to look at these countries and see what is common to them all; they are developed countries and that is why renewable energy can thrive. To a very large extent, generating power via renewable is cheaper than via fossil fuel. They were able to overcome the challenge of renewables' intermittent supply.
But this wont be obtainable in third world and developing countries like Nigeria, from cost perspective. A good scenario is the Massive solar PV/Solar Concentrator project in Morocco. The project was an initiative of the govt of Morocco and the European Union, but the European union backed out at the execution stage because of project's sustainability and viability even though morocco has impressive solar irradiation. Morocco went on with it and the first stage has been completed.
Let us develop more coal plants, ensure that we have uninterrupted supply of gas to our gas stations etc. But what i propose today is to have stand alone power plants. I am 100% percent sure that investors will troop in if it is no longer a must to supply to the National grid.

Investors will focus its resources on a particular area/municipality/town/state and provide uninterrupted supply. You will see how rapid the development will be. For Example, if Ajaokuta's 22MW plant focuses on Ajaokuta and its environment, industries around that region will be guaranteed of power, more industries would likely be set up there; which in turn gives the powerplant the flexibility to scale up; to expand in order to meet the increasing demands. Redemption camp with its 10MW diesel and gas turbines is a taste of what all nigerians should be enjoying. So is Winners Canaan land.

But is our Honorable Minister ready to do the needful?

If you want to take your passion for energy to the next level, you want your voice to be heard, send a Private Message

These are common truths which need not be declared. No one needs to declare the rise of dawn or the fall of dusk. The real question is how long can the power question be solved? Can it be done in 4 years or 10 years or 20 years. A longer timeline would be required for infrastructural deficits which is what the power industry's main problem.

How efficient is a decentralized system?

ElSherriff:
Fundamentally, we are not on the same page yet. You have chosen to continue supporting sale of generated electricity for 'guarantee' that the natural flow of the Niger wont be tampered with. I insist, it is unwise of any Government Minister, Fashola inclusive to continue the practice since we barely have enough to consume as you are aware of. I have done a quick check to point to you that indeed it is possible to artificially create dams which is practicable in Nigeria. Guess what, it was the first website I viewed when I checked for sustainable artificial dams globally. Your guess is as good as mine, should I decide to put in a week.
I need not glorify you with a plan for the Nigeria power situation and because you are as gullible as you are, you believe it is a two year plan. Since 1968 we have been on this agreement. That's long enough for a holistic plan to have been developed and implemented. The Swiss and Chinese are not super humans, they only plan long term and execute. They do not justify mediocrity.
Since you are not 5, the minister is not 5, take your adulthood pettiness + 2500MW perennial generation of power and go to bed with it.
I am not tied with you are your minister.
Like I said to someone else, Kainji Dam cost less than 300m USD in the 60s to build. to date, more than a billion has been returned from switzerland as Abacha loot. Minister Fashola has failed and yet we massage their bluntness as though we are cursed geographically? Take the countries East of Nigeria without the Niger River that have better supply into consideration, then you'd see where your problems lie.
Again, I am working my way out of Nigeria. You should too, lest you kids will continue this argument with their cousins many many years from today and will still find a right justification for it.

What was I expecting from a Lawyer as Power Minister? Whatever Bullcrap he is given, he adds a little and peddles to y'all.

Solomon Wisely.

Do you want more dams and power plants less of Kainji or what?

I don't get what you are saying.

Kay17:


When should Nigeria abandon the outdated dam, right now or later in the future when there are other means of electricity?

We all on Nairaland know that Nigeria's demands outstrip her supply yet reality shows that Kainji is damn important. And it does not make sense to remove substantial MWs Kainji produces

why do people just rush to comment without understanding simple stuffs? I didn't say Nigeria should abandon the dam but she should stop depending on it.

iamord:
rather your research is flawed, have you heard of the saying "you can't give what you don't have " now let that sink in. Nigeria does not supply ghana and Togo electricity .o bet you have not weight on the generating capacity of all the countries u mentioned

who supply gas for power generation to Ghana?

An obvious question that has not been asked is how much megawatts do you give to Benin and Nigeria generating capacity. Like if you divert it back it will still have any meaningful impact

shervydman:

who supply gas for power generation to Ghana?

ghana gas company and wagp.

ElSherriff:
I will see you someday. Na one full crate of your brand I go buy you. It will be frosty chilled bro. Trust me.

Hahahaha. Till then naah.

Kay17:


These are common truths which need not be declared. No one needs to declare the rise of dawn or the fall of dusk. The real question is how long can the power question be solved? Can it be done in 4 years or 10 years or 20 years. A longer timeline would be required for infrastructural deficits which is what the power industry's main problem.

How efficient is a decentralized system?

Mr Kay17

To be candid, the cost to revamp the whole system is gigantic and is not sustainable. This is what they won't tell the public. Fashola, unintentionally said that the investors that bought the NEPA/PHCN assets knew the state of the infrastructures before they acquired them. The DISCOs are not ready to revamp these systems. The transmission National Company of Nigeria (TCN) is only managing the situation and they cant undertake a mammoth revamp.

The positives of a decentralized system is that it eliminates the challenges associated with long distance transmission which are losses due to resistance heating along the lines, inductance losses etc. Again, you eliminate the occurrence of a back-feeding on the lines to the generation source resulting from load rejection (as we have experienced about three times in the past 12 months) which damages the system. In a decentralized grid, you get the produced electricity to the consumers instantaneously and no load rejection. You also scale up at your ease.

The economic significance is that, manufacturing companies will know want to site their industries where there is guaranteed power supply, so imagine we have about thirty 30 -100MW power plants scattered all across the country, there would be rapid industrialization in these regions. I tell you that in 2-3 years after the plants commence operation, Nigeria will be able to record appreciable development and growth.

The national grid can just focus on residential loads by utilizing existing facilities and of course, should get them to work optimally. Government can encourage competition by allowing private investors to also feed homes and offices. Consumers can decide to chose which utility provider he wants.

An argument for the national grid is that a lot has been sunk into these structures. But i tell you, a lot more would be sunk into revamping it. There is nothing like repairing cables, you get new ones. The infrastructures (or asset as they would call it) are dilapidated and outdated, so revamping the whole system is like setting up National grid all over again. Exchange rate is not smiling at us, so the total overhead cost is overwhelming, thus, it is not feasible for Nigeria to take on.

chibjohn:
I like you. You are not like other ignorant Nigerians that argue blindly. How I wish every Nigerian will take your approach instead of insults. The answer is very technical and I don't know your background but I will try to be as simple as possible in my explanations.

You are. Thanks.

iamord:
An obvious question that has not been asked is how much megawatts do you give to Benin and Nigeria generating capacity. Like if you divert it back it will still have any meaningful impact

exactly.

shervydman:


why do people just rush to comment without understanding simple stuffs? I didn't say Nigeria should abandon the dam but she should stop depending on it.

Then you were speaking off point. Because there was no view that Kainji should be the sole source of power. The which sheriff raised was whether we should stop selling power to those who can render Kainji worthless if they have none.

bellyjean:


Mr Kay17

To be candid, the cost to revamp the whole system is gigantic and is not sustainable. This is what they won't tell the public. Fashola, unintentionally said that the investors that bought the NEPA/PHCN assets knew the state of the infrastructures before they acquired them. The DISCOs are not ready to revamp these systems. The transmission National Company of Nigeria (TCN) is only managing the situation and they cant undertake a mammoth revamp.

The positives of a decentralized system is that it eliminates the challenges associated with long distance transmission which are losses due to resistance heating along the lines, inductance losses etc. Again, you eliminate the occurrence of a back-feeding on the lines to the generation source resulting from load rejection (as we have experienced about three times in the past 12 months) which damages the system. In a decentralized grid, you get the produced electricity to the consumers instantaneously and no load rejection. You also scale up at your ease.

The economic significance is that, manufacturing companies will know want to site their industries where there is guaranteed power supply, so imagine we have about thirty 30 -100MW power plants scattered all across the country, there would be rapid industrialization in these regions. I tell you that in 2-3 years after the plants commence operation, Nigeria will be able to record appreciable development and growth.

The national grid can just focus on residential loads by utilizing existing facilities and of course, should get them to work optimally. Government can encourage competition by allowing private investors to also feed homes and offices. Consumers can decide to chose which utility provider he wants.

An argument for the national grid is that a lot has been sunk into these structures. But i tell you, a lot more would be sunk into revamping it. There is nothing like repairing cables, you get new ones. The infrastructures (or asset as they would call it) are dilapidated and outdated, so revamping the whole system is like setting up National grid all over again. Exchange rate is not smiling at us, so the total overhead cost is overwhelming, thus, it is not feasible for Nigeria to take on.

Nice contribution from you! You appear to have an unusual grasp of the current dilemma in the power sector. Could you be an insider? I have said it on this forum that microgridding is the only way to resolve the crisis in the power sector. There is absolutely no sense in trying to electrify the entire country at once. It will never work because centralised macrogrid structure in Nigeria is very susceptible to mismanagement and inefficiency, as we currently witness. As an engineer, I believe it is easier to build independent power generating nodes on a regional scale initially. When we are certain that we have enough power for each region, we can then feed the national transmission lines. This is one of the reasons I am advocating for regionalism. Each part of Nigeria have different electricity needs which should firstly be tackled autonomously. Once achieved, the national grid can be incorporated for future redundancies. My arguments stem from the fact that Lagos alone will need nothing less than 3,000 MW to ensure stable power supply. Ironically, should Lagos wait for the national grid to attain such level? How much longer should Lagos wait: 3 years? 5 years? It is very uncertain at this point because of sabotage and mismanagement at the national level!

TonySpike:


Nice contribution from you! You appear to have an unusual grasp of the current dilemma in the power sector. Could you be an insider? I have said it on this forum that microgridding is the only way to resolve the crisis in the power sector. There is absolutely no sense in trying to electrify the entire country at once. It will never work because centralised macrogrid structure in Nigeria is very susceptible to mismanagement and inefficiency, as we currently witness. As an engineer, I believe it is easier to build independent power generating nodes on a regional scale initially. When we are certain that we have enough power for each region, we can then feed the national transmission lines. This is one of the reasons I am advocating for regionalism. Each part of Nigeria have different electricity needs which should firstly be tackled autonomously. Once achieved, the national grid can be incorporated for future redundancies. My arguments stem from the fact that Lagos alone will need nothing less than 3,000 MW to ensure stable power supply. Ironically, should Lagos wait for the national grid to attain such level? How much longer should Lagos wait: 3 years? 5 years? It is very uncertain at this point because of sabotage and mismanagement at the national level!

What you are saying and bellyjean is saying are two different ideas.

Bellyjean thinks an extra smaller and manageable grid should formed solely for industrial purposes and to on turn boost the economy. The national grid will remain relevant for domestic consumption.

You on the other hand, want a full regionalization of the grid and total abandonment of national grid.

My question to you mainly attacks the thoughtfulness of regional grids. First of all none exists but the national grid hence the construction of new transmission infrastructure within every region to transfer obviously power from the power stations within that region. That will cost money to the private companies undertaking that job. It is either a company acts in trust for those companies to build and manage the new regional grid or every power generating company would its own micro grid. The total cost of erecting all that infrastructure would be gigantic. And the total cost would outweigh the cost of repairing the national grid.

Except you guys have only Lagos State in mind. Hence eliminating the huge cost of laying micro grid across the country.

It is in this light that the national grid appears most economical with a lesser environmental impact otherwise the country would be littered with "i better pass your power station."

Please mention countries and other precedents that use micro grids with great efficiency

@tonyspike and @bellyjean

I forgot to add that the power stations have to either be sited either close to their source or to the grid. Considering the landspan of the country and that gas is derived from Niger Delta it is either all the power stations are in the Niger Delta or they have pipelines connecting their power sites in Lagos and other parts of the country. This vulnerability is two fold. Either the pipelines would be vulnerable to vandalization or the transmission grids would be stretched to meet the plants were they are. Invariably more costs. The transmissions lines can be sabotaged as well.

The main argument of my contribution is this: does it make sense to electrify the entire country at once? No, it makes no sense. The transmission infrastructures are already too massive to secure and manage. Hence, power instabilities and blackouts are inevitable. I have not advocated for the total abandonment our national grid, I believe more emphasis should be laid on development of regional power stations. Theoretically speaking, there is no need to build new transmission reticulations for regional purposes as they already exist. These reticulations only need to be strengthened to improve power stability in these regions. For this reason, microgrids might suffice. In conclusion, I believe regional power stability should be the priority for the government, not national power stability.

TonySpike:
The main argument of my contribution is this: does it make sense to electrify the entire country at once? No, it makes no sense. The transmission infrastructures are already too massive to secure and manage. Hence, power instabilities and blackouts are inevitable. I have not advocated for the total abandonment our national grid, I believe more emphasis should be laid on development of regional power stations. Theoretically speaking, there is no need to build new transmission reticulations for regional purposes as they already exist. These reticulations only need to be strengthened to improve power stability in these regions. For this reason, microgrids might suffice. In conclusion, I believe regional power stability should be the priority for the government, not national power stability.

The regional solution might be economically tenable where a particular region is preferentially targeted over others. Which in turn affects the economic development either positively or negatively of those areas without the say of those people residing there.

Also this solution hardly has a long term lifespan. Wouldn't it be obsolete in the next thirty years

Kay17:


The regional solution might be economically tenable where a particular region is preferentially targeted over others. Which in turn affects the economic development either positively or negatively of those areas without the say of those people residing there.

Also this solution hardly has a long term lifespan. Wouldn't it be obsolete in the next thirty years

In your opinion, what should be the long term plan? I think power generation should be strategically prioritised in the short term. The issue is that Nigeria isn't generating enough to distribute nationwide. System collapse and instability will always be inevitable.