The Nigerian Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the addition of 700 megawatts to the country’s national grid may bring an end to grid collapses.

Adelabu disclosed this when he received the EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot, in his office in Abuja.

According to a statement released on Sunday by the minister’s spokesperson, Bolaji Tunji, Adelabu said the transmission capacity was achieved through the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative, known as the Siemens project, which secured $2.3 billion in financing to revamp and transform its transmission segments.

Giving an update on the project, Adelabu said the pilot of the initiative is 90 percent complete.

“We have installed almost 90 percent of this, and they are working.

“And that has improved transmission capacity by over 700 megawatts, which is the result of what we are seeing now in terms of relative stability in the transmission grid.”

He further said that, “We have almost completed the pilot phase of that project, which involved the importation, installation, commissioning, and energization of 10 power transformers across the country and another set of 10 mobile substations.”

He explained that before the installation of the 700 MW electricity capacity, whenever the national peak reached 5,000, it became unstable and led to collapse.

“Before now, at the time the supply to the grid entered 5,000, the grid was unstable; it shook, collapsed, and all that.

“Now, we are having an average of 5,000, 7,000, and 8,000 megawatts. So, it’s not by accident. It’s because of these activities of the government.”

He added that the country in recent times has achieved two milestones: the highest average of 20,000 kilowatt-hours of daily power consumption and the highest distribution of energy at 5,801 MW.

“Over 20,000 kilowatt-hours it achieved, which has never been achieved before.

“The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry has transmitted and distributed the highest energy of 5,801.63 MW as the latest feat.”