The Managing Director of TCN, Engr. Dr. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz has inaugurated Generation and Distribution Steering Committees to review the report of the 20-year Transmission Expansion Plan (TEP) carried out by Fichtner GmbH Consultancy Group of Germany for the company in 2015.

Engr. Abdulaziz, who was represented by the Executive Director, Independent System Operation (ISO), Engr. Mamman Lawal said, TEP is a document that determines justifiable investments in transmission systems over a planning period and forms the basis of critical regulatory decisions relating to capital investments and revenue requirements of TCN that would guide and finance transmission system development.

He stated that the Grid Code required the ISO to develop the TEP for the network, and periodically review it to evaluate its efficiency against current realities as well as realign it to achieve the developmental needs of the system.

According to him, the duty of reviewing TEP should not be left to TCN alone. He said the entire power industry has to be involved in the exercise because the document would impact all sector players in different ways. He declared TCN's commitment to delivering the project with the highest level of professionalism and inclusiveness and requested the same commitment from the other participants, noting that participation would significantly help in acquiring the relevant data required to validate the exercise.

Speaking in his capacity as the ED ISO, Engr. Mamman Lawal explained that the planning process was critical to the growth and development of the industry and the fact that it had to be all-inclusive was inevitable since all the participants were critical stakeholders in the sector.

He remarked that it was necessary to involve all stakeholders in order to come up with a plan that will not only command general acceptance but will also be sensitive to the changing requirements in the industry, allow for optimization of resources, minimize losses along the line, handle risks and manage uncertainties.

The Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider (TSP), Engr. Victor Adewumi, represented by the General Manager, Project Coordination, Engr. Joseph Ciroma, disclosed that the Fichtner Report which formed the basis of the review was sponsored by World Bank under the Nigeria Electricity and Gas Improvement Project (NEGIP) program which required distribution centers, TCN substations and power plants across the country to put the plan together.

He emphasized that growth in load capacity and technology was not static and that changes necessitates the review of the TEP. He opined that instead of engaging consultants who do not have direct access to current data in the domain of industry players, TCN decided to invite stakeholders who were conversant with the changes in the sector to undertake the review exercise.

Generation and Distribution Steering Committee were inaugurated to fast-track the process. The 18-member Generating Steering Committee is to be supported by Engr. Shehu Abba, Engr. E. O. Adetola, Engr. Joseph Ciroma, Engr. Nafisat Ali, Engr. Balarabe Abdullahi, Engr. Kabiru Adamu, Engr. Bashir Abdulmumin and Engr. Samantha Goewam, all of TCN.

The 13-member Distribution Steering Committee will be supported by Engr. B. Ishola, Engr. Bashir Abdulmumini, Engr.  Bemdoo Saka, Engr. Patrick Obe, Engr. Adenaike Babafemi, Engr. Agboola Kolawole, Engr. Mohammed Aliyu Dutse, Engr. Samantha Goewam and Engr. Adekunle Okewunmi of TCN.

Sub-committees were also inaugurated to cover the areas of Data Collection and Validation, Model Update and Validation, Generation Adequacy Assessment, Transmission System Adequacy Assessment, Generation and Transmission Expansion Planning and Optimization.

A cross section of the commitee