Nigeria’s Electric Power System.
Have you been wondering how Nigeria Electrical power systems work? Or about how power gets to your home? Well, you don’t have to wonder anymore.
In this post, you will learn about
- The type of power systems in Nigeria
- A brief history of Nigeria Power Systems
- How power get to consumers
- Decentralised power system in Nigeria.
The Electrical Grid Power Systems in Nigeria
Nigeria is a West African country that has a population of over 190 million people. It is said to be the most populous country in Africa. The populace is spread around 36 states and Abuja as the country’s capital.
The country is blessed with massive energy resources ranging from fossil fuel (coal, petroleum, etc.) to renewable energy sources (solar, hydro, wind, etc). But even with all those energy resources, it hasn’t been able to meet the electricity demand of the Nigerian people.
Two different types of Electrical grid Power systems help provide electric power to Nigerians. They are the Centralised and decentralised electric power system
The centralised power system (which is commonly called NEPA) hasn’t been sufficient. It has been providing power majorly to urban areas.
However, in addition to the far-long existing centralised power system, decentralised power systems are growing to help in meeting the demand for electricity.
Both the centralised and decentralised power system have their different ways of generating and transporting power to the final consumers.
How does the centralised power System work?
Nigeria’s Centralised Power System
Nigeria’s Centralised Power System is the major source of electric power in Nigeria. It has been in existence for long but hasn’t been able to provide the energy demands of the Nigeria people.
Take a look at a brief history of this power system:
Brief History of Nigeria’s Centralised Power System
In 1896, the first power generation plant was installed in the city of Lagos. Afterward, various other power generation plants kept popping out around the country to serve different areas.
It was not until 1950 when the then-colonial masters passed the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria ordinance No. 1, thereby making the Electricity Cooperation of Nigeria (ECN) bring together the already existing and upcoming power plants.
However, the Nigeria Electricity Supply Company (NESCO) was also given the authority to generate electricity in some parts of the country while the Niger Dams Authority (NDA) was responsible for the construction and maintenance of dams and generating electricity through hydro.
On the 1st of April, 1972, the ECN and NDA were merged to form the National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA) which was given the sole authority of generating, transmitting and distributing electricity in Nigeria. This was to ensure more efficient and coordinated operation of the country’s electricity supply system.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much improvement as expected. So, in 2005, the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act was enacted to privatize and deregulate the power industry, and the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) was created to regulate the electric power industry.
On the road to the unbundling and deregulation of the power industry, NEPA was transformed into the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in order to help with the transition.
The PHCN was to be taken over by 18 successor companies: six companies responsible for generation (GENCOS), a transmission company and 11 companies responsible for distribution (DISCOS).
The various companies took over PHCN in November 2013.
Centralised Power System: A Summary of How Power gets to Your Home
The power supply chain is the chain in which power follows to get to your home. It includes the generation, transmission and distribution station.
Summary of Nigeria’s Power System
Now, let’s take a more detailed look at Nigeria’s Power Supply Chain
The Power Generating Stations in Nigeria
Most of the generating stations generate power from energy sources like coal, gas and hydro (water). Some of those stations generate power to the national grid while others are either under construction or non-operational.
Even though some of the generating stations use different energy sources (like gas, hydro, etc), they basically follow the same basic principle to produce electric power.
The generating stations use their different sources of energy to drive a turbine. The turbine in turn drives a generator to produce power.
The power that is produced by the generating stations are always in the range of 6KV to 16KV. The different generating stations have different voltage outputs.
For the power to be transported from the generating stations, the voltage is stepped up to a transmitting voltage of 330KV.
How is this done?
By using a step-up transformer; a power transformer. It steps up the voltage to 330KV
So, power from the various generating stations gets stepped up to 330KV for transmission
The transmission network then continues the transportation of the generated power.
How the Transmission Company Transmits Power to Distribution Stations
A transmission tower carries the coductors that transmits
TCN receives power from the generating stations and transmits it to Transmission substations. In this transmission substation, the voltage is stepped down to 132KV.
The stepped-down voltage is then transported to an injection substation where it is further stepped down to 33KV.
From the injection substation, the distribution companies continue the transportation of power to the consumers.
How Distribution Companies Distribute Power to Consumers
From the injection substation, distribution transformer is used to step down the 33KV to 11KV.
To bring the voltage to a usable one, it is further stepped down to 0.415KV. That is, 415V
Note: The 33KV can also be stepped down directly to 415V.
The transformers that step down the 11KV to 415V are mostly the ones you see in your neighborhood. The 11KV enters the primary winding of the transformer while it outputs the stepped-down voltage through the secondary windings.
Those transformers have neutral line in their secondary winding. That is why you see four conductors coming out of those transformers.
So, from the secondary winding, 415V is the Line to line voltage while the 220v (which is what most of the home appliances use) is the Line to Neutral Voltage.
The distribution power stations distribute power to its consumer. They are the last sector of the electricity supply chain.
The Distribution companies’ job is to step down the power coming from TCN to a usable voltage. This is done through the use of a step-down transformer (substation transformers).
They are also responsible for billing consumers and collecting revenues.
How About the Decentralised Electrical Grid in Nigeria?
The Nigeria Electrical Grid has always been more of centralised system until a few years back when decentralised ones began to spring up.
For the decentralised system, they exist in the form of Mini-grids, stand-alone solar power system and so on. All decentralised Electrical grid in Nigeria is off Grid. That is, they are not connected to the centralised Grid.
The Decentralised grid in Nigeria is either privately owned or government-owned. And they are mostly solar-powered.
The Federal government, through Rural Electrification Agency, has been hitting good strides in the decentralised power system front. There have done much in powering some universities, markets and many rural areas.
And there are more underway.
Summary
There are two types of power systems in Nigeria: Centralised and Decentralised Power System.
The centralised Power system (commonly called NEPA) generates power from water, coal, and gas.
The Centralised Power system was operated as NEPA; later as PHCN; and finally unbundled into 6 Gencos, one Transmission Company, and 11 distribution Companies (Discos)
Nigeria’s Power supply chain includes the Generation, Transmission, distribution, and consumers.
How power get to consumers: Power Generation > Transmission > distribution > consumers
Nigeria’s decentralised power system is in the form of mini-grids and stand-alone solar power systems
FAQ
They rarely generate to full capacity. This can be due to unreliable fuel or gas supply, varying energy demands, and so on.
Step down transformer steps down voltage and not power. P = IV. The power that enters a transformer is the same as the one that goes out of it. Only the voltage and current can change.
Like in the case of a step-down transformer, as the voltage step down, current steps up. But power remains the same.
And it is vice versa for step-up transformers
There is no difference. Power plants are many times, called Power station. It is a facility where power is generated. They are also called generating stations.
Image Credit:
Transmission Tower Image by David Reed from Pixabay