The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), on Monday said that its In –house engineers had deployed a stop-gap network automation solution to improve grid monitoring and acquisition of data.
TCN said that the stop-gap solution would monitor and gather data from remote power stations and transmission substation to the National Control Centre (NCC).
TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah in a statement said 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).
Mbah 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.
“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,’’ she said.
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.
Mbah said that the fact that several stations were never integrated into the existing SCADA made grid visibility and management very difficult and inefficient.
She said 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.
“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,’’ she said.
According to Mbah, with a plant or generator at a power station, ancillary services activation and automatic load shedding defines the control level operations of the grid which is obtainable in the systems operations units of any power grid.
She said that the stop-gap solution had helped TCN’s system operators to better manage the grid, but this can only serve as a temporary measure and cannot match or be compared to the efficacy of a complete SCADA system.
“This is 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.’’
