The Federal Government has commenced construction of a new ultra modern National Control Centre for the Nigerian Independent System Operator in Osogbo, Osun State.
The project is aimed at strengthening the reliability and resilience of the national electricity grid and replacing a 64 year old facility that can no longer meet current demands.
The groundbreaking was performed on Wednesday by Vice President Kashim Shettima. He was represented by the Senior Special Assistant on Legal Matters in the Office of the Vice President, Alhaji Bashir Maidugu.
Shettima was joined by the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe. He said reliable electricity is central to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
He described power as the foundation of a working economy that allows manufacturers to plan, small businesses to operate and hospitals and schools to function. He said Nigeria cannot run a modern interconnected grid with yesterday’s tools.
Tegbe said the new centre will give NISO real time visibility across the national grid. He said it will help operators respond faster to faults and disturbances.
He said it is a concrete expression of the President’s determination to fix weaknesses in electricity supply. Once completed, it will feature integrated SCADA, large format displays and advanced analytics.
The tools will help operators spot developing faults, plan preventive maintenance and make better use of generation and transmission capacity.
Tegbe added that the facility will support integration of renewable energy and strengthen coordination within the West African Power Pool. It will also have stronger physical and cyber security.
He said the expected benefit for consumers and businesses is fewer avoidable outages and more dependable supply. He noted this also depends on gas feedstock and well maintained transmission and distribution networks.
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