EU to help Nigeria achieve stable power supply

The European Union, EU, Weekend said that it would support the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to stabilise the electricity network in some parts of the country. The Team Leader, EU’s Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS on Green and Digital Economy, Ms Inga Stefanowicz, gave the affirmation in Abuja. She said there was an imbalance in the system, adding that there are fluctuations to be addressed in tackling electricity problems in the country. “Looking at the northern part of the country, power supply is weaker in that area. We are supporting the TCN to cut off some transmission lines that will help in stabilising the network. The network in the North West is ongoing at the moment and the EU is funding it to be more stabilised.

Basically it is a long term vision we are working on and the project that addresses that has started since 2017, implemented through collaboration with TCN,’’ Stefanowicz said. The team leader said that all the organisations that are generating power supply were from the gas power plant, adding that only 18 per cent are from hydro. Her words: “We want to see how we can increase the distribution network of Nigeria and to support the Federal Government to meet targets by 2030. This is helping Nigeria generate 30kilog making it a 30 per cent energy mix; we are supporting them in that regard. For distribution, we are helping to develop more, where they reduce losses. From the electricity grid presently, the level of electricity losses and network is very high.

There are losses from obsolete transformers, wires and distribution cables as well as in the area revenue collection.’’ Stefanowicz said that the EU has also been helping the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distribution (ANED) to develop its capacity in the area of power supply. She identified inability to connect more people to the grid as the major challenge at the moment, saying only about 57 per cent of the population was unconnected. She said that the organisation had assisted those not connected to the grid, to have more access to electricity through decentralised mini grids.