Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management and software, is working with Ikeja Electric, a power distribution company in Lagos, Nigeria, to reduce power outage duration in the country’s largest commercial city.
According to the global energy firm, the partnership would scale up electricity access in the franchise areas of Ikeja Electric and serving as the first step towards setting up a digitised grid, starting with smart transformers.
“Schneider Electric, in an effort to scale up electricity access and pave the way for a sustainable power sector in Nigeria, has partnered Ikeja Electric to improve electricity distribution in its network,” the firm stated in a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday.
It added, “The collaboration would address common problems faced by electricity distribution companies in the country, namely the lack of traceability when faults occur on the network, leading to extended periods of outages.
“These connected solutions would enable the remote monitoring and control of the grid, thus improving the quality and reliability of the network, as well as reducing operational costs for the Disco.”
It said the partnership would translate to fewer frequent fault occurrences and reduced downtime for customers of Ikeja Electric.
The Chief Executive Officer, Ikeja Electric, Folake Soetan,
was quoted in the statement as saying, “This partnership exemplifies Ikeja Electric’s desire to leverage innovation and technology to improve customer experience, so it is driven largely with interest of customers at the heart of our business.
“We are delighted to partner Schneider Electric on this project as it becomes imperative that we adopt a more strategic approach in managing our network.
“The introduction of smart distribution transformers will not only assist in drastically reducing downtime, but it will also further drive efficiency as we are able to better manage and maintain our network proactively.”
On his part, the Director, Marketing, Business Development and Access to Energy – Anglophone West Africa, Schneider Electric, Mojola Ola, said, “Our collaboration with Ikeja Electric reflects a true commitment from both parties to drive the digital transformation of the grid, which would result in greater efficiency and access to energy for the population.”
He noted that with a proactive maintenance approach in place on the transformers, the frequency of downtime would drastically reduce.
Ojo said, “Instead of having reactive maintenance after a technical interruption, we offer a more proactive approach on the equipment as they can be set to trigger alerts for any issue on the network requiring attention, before downtime occurs.
“Even when faults do occur, because the network is smarter and connected to the cloud, they would have a quicker resolution time.”
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