The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), on Monday disclosed that that its engineers had deployed a stop-gap network automation solution to improve grid monitoring and acquisition of data.
According to the company, the stop-gap solution will monitor and gather data from remote power stations and transmission substations to the National Control Centre (NCC).
The General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, who made this disclosure in a statement, indicated that the deployment was achieved by utilising the Internet of Things (IoT) solution, and Virtual Private Network (VPN) by using various Internet Service Providers (ISP).
Specifically, the spokesperson said that the temporary use of the Network Automation System was deployed to assist TCN in conveying critical operational measurements data from remote stations to NCC, using web technology which is an integral component of the IoT.
She stated: “So far, the data received from remote stations has enabled NCC to obtain more insight into the situation of the power flow on the grid. It has also enabled the centre to make decisions that have impacted positively on the security and integrity of the grid.
“The stop-gap solution became necessary as TCN could not access and receive comprehensive operational data of the entire power grid for managing the fast-growing system”, Mbah added.
According to her, the existing inadequate Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system cannot provide adequate grid visibility, as parts of the equipment are moribund and damaged coupled with an ineffective telecommunication network infrastructure.
In addition, she stressed the fact that several stations were never integrated into the existing SCADA made grid visibility and management very difficult and inefficient.
On some of the benefits of the solution, Ubah maintained that the deployment of this stop-gap solution would mitigate most of the challenges posed by the absence of Remote Terminal Units at the stations which were not captured in the last SCADA World Bank Project of 2004.
She expatiated: “For the stations that use substation automation systems that are proprietary in design, the design made it difficult to integrate other substations into the existing inadequate SCADA system.
“With the TCN’s stop-gap solution, the grid operators can see a much wider part of the grid making the control a lot easier and more efficient.
“For any transmission company, grid management involves levels of control that help to ensure grid security and stability which includes automatic generation control involving real-time interaction of the SCADA system procedure at the master station’, the General Manager stressed.
Mbah further explained that with a plant or generator at a power station, ancillary services activation and automatic load shedding defined the control level operations of the grid which is obtainable in the systems operations units of any power grid.
This is even as she recalled that the stop-gap solution had helped TCN’s system operators to better manage the grid, “in terms of robustness, functionality, security, and stability of the grid, while the stop-gap measure subsists, the company will continue to pursue the ongoing process for the acquisition of a full-scale SCADA system.’’
