Electricity supply outage reduction via smart sensors and interconnected mini-grids in Nigeria

• The NPS suffers from persistent problems, including the use of obsolete equipment, poor maintenance culture, inadequate generation, limited transmission and distribution capacities, and high Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection losses
• These problems have led to issues with access to electricity, reliability of electricity supplies and the poor overall standard of the NPS
• To improve energy access for unserved/underserved communities, the Nigerian government and international donors have focused on developing renewables-based on- and off-grid mini-grids
• Challenges have been faced in connecting large-scale renewables-based mini-grids to the grid as technical capacity, knowledge and tools are lacking in network operators as a result of financial and technical challenges in NESI

The project successfully delivered three technical reports on how to improve electricity supply using smart sensors and grid-connected mini-grids. These were circulated among NESI stakeholders to build their technical knowledge. This capacity was enhanced through a workshop on how smart sensors and mini-grids can be used to transform the NPS and improve electricity access.

Key outcomes of these deliverables include:

• NESI stakeholders are now equipped with technical knowledge on strategies that rely on smart sensors and grid-connected mini-grids or distributed energy resources. This technical knowledge can be used to improve electricity supply availability and reliability, reduce electricity theft, reduce carbon emissions, improve gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) aspects through increased energy access, improve NPS performance, and improve the NESI revenue generation and profits – which is necessary to bring in investments on the networks
• Recommendations in the reports are expected to be taken forward in the next 1-3 years by NESI stakeholders. Recommendations included an update on the business model for mini-grid operators to participate in the franchising framework as a regulation for annual performance improvement plans of DisCos

The World Bank SE4ALL database indicates that 43.5% of Nigeria's population lack access to energy as of 2018. In this context, this project aimed to improve energy access for the unserved and/or underserved communities via the improvement and extension of grid supply availability to these communities.

The project identified a number of GESI-related improvements, circulated amongst NESI stakeholders, including:

• Analysing new ways to cost-effectively improve and sustain clean electricity access for women, children, poor households, and vulnerable groups in Nigeria. For example, through the use of low-cost smart sensors to remotely monitor electricity supply and fault passage indicators to identify faults quickly
• Analysing new ways of monitoring the impact of energy access on various vulnerable groups, such as using smart sensors to monitor the amount of energy being supplied to areas with poorer households compared to areas with affluent households
• Identifying critical assets supplying electricity to hospitals, schools, poorer households, markets etc. thus benefitting vulnerable groups who rely on those services
• Increasing overall awareness amongst electricity stakeholders on the importance of electricity access for women, poorer households and children through surveys and interviews
• Involving more women in the consortium’s internal delivery teams
• Actively targeting and engaging with female NESI staff in providing industry knowledge, with a 30:70 ratio between female and male respondents in various NESI stakeholders meetings
• Providing short training to more than 10 female students in a workshop on the use of smart sensors for controlling grid-connected mini-grids

The project developed some key recommendations and lessons learnt:

• Smart communicating sensors are required to fully meet the potential of renewables-based mini-grids to improve electricity supply in Nigeria
• All planned project outputs should be in line with the NESI stakeholders’ bottom-line of revenue generation to ensure buy-in
• The project recommends that NERC should officially release franchising for electricity distribution networks as a regulation, and set mandatory annual targets for DisCos
• NERC is also recommended to work with DisCos to implement cost-reflective tariffs for profit – to be re-invested in networks
• Mini-grids are the best option to ensure reliable electricity access for communities that do not have grid access
• All stakeholders should look to improve GESI considerations in their respective organisations. Network operators can track their progress in achieving this by using smart sensors to capture data relevant to GESI