RELIABILITY OF DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS IN NIGERIA: IKORODU, LAGOS STATE AS A CASE STUDY

Abstract

Nigerians are experiencing a lot of difficulties as a result of poor Generation, Transmission and Distribution of electricity. As of 2016, the electricity energy consumption in the world from the world fact book revealed that the average power per capital (watts per person) in the United States is 1,377 Watts. In Canada, it is as high as 1,704 Watts per person and in South Africa; it is 445 Watts per person. The average power per capital in Australia is 1,112 Watts and in New Zealand it is 1,020 W per person. Whereas, the average electricity consumed in watts per person in Nigeria is just 14 Watts. This has put Nigeria in a rank of 189 out of 219 countries estimated. Currently, power generating capacity in Nigeria is estimated to be 6,803 megawatts, with average working capacity between 3,500 MW for over 170 million people (20.59 W/person). The power Companies in Nigeria face a lot of problems. Some of the highest priority issues being low generation of power, inadequate equipment and technical team for the clearance of faults, inadequate protection devices, transmission losses and low reliability of the distribution system. The Nigerian power problem has resulted to incessant planned, forced and unplanned outages. This has grounded many activities and has destroyed many industrial operations and processes. In addition, it has resulted to erratic and unreliable supply of electricity. It has reduced productivity and has increased unemployment and crime rates in the country. Hence, an analytical method is developed to study the dynamic- reliability of the distribution system, as well as optimizes the occurrence of faults and outages along the consumer point in each feeder in order to improve the performance of the system. A great need for fault evaluation and reliability studies of electric power system was observed. This research work analyzed the problems facing the Distribution System. Efforts were made to provide adequate solutions to the problems. The research work evaluated the occurrence and causes of faults and outages in the Distribution Network Area for a period of 8 years. In addition, it analyzed and reduced the effects of power losses along each of the feeders in the Distribution Network Area. This research work revealed the downtime, failure rate and reliability index along each of the eight feeders. It also improved the reliability and performance of the distribution system.