By Saminu Ibrahim
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has unveiled a new Load and Outage Analytics platform aimed at improving monitoring, management and reliability of the national transmission network.
The platform was introduced on Wednesday during a technical presentation and live demonstration organised by TCN’s Operations Department at the company’s corporate headquarters in Abuja.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of TCN, Engr. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, represented by the General Manager, Project Coordination, Engr. Aminu Tahir, commended the team for developing the software in-house and integrating it into the company’s operations.
Abdulaziz said the technology had already improved visibility of the transmission network, despite the fact that the full system was still being developed.
He identified technical and commercial losses as major challenges affecting the company’s performance, stressing the need for improved load management, system analysis and effective supply-demand matching.
According to him, better management of the transmission system would reduce outages, improve grid stability and operational efficiency, while lowering the economic cost of prolonged power interruptions.
He added that effective control and maintenance of transmission infrastructure would contribute to reducing losses and strengthening the overall performance of the national grid.
Presenting the platform, TCN’s General Manager, Operations, Engr. Godwin Afamefuna Aguiyi, said the company’s existing reliability reporting system was undermined by fragmented data, manual processes and inconsistent reporting methods.
He said operational data were currently scattered across spreadsheets in different regions, with reports sometimes taking days to compile, while the absence of a proper audit trail made accountability and national reliability assessment difficult.
Aguiyi explained that the new Streamlit-based platform comprises 13 modules designed to unify TCN’s operational data and improve decision-making.
He said the system provides region, station, transformer and feeder-level views for load analysis, automatically classifies outages, generates reliability key performance indicators and produces management-ready reports within minutes.
The platform, according to him, was conceived and developed entirely by TCN’s Operations Department, barely one year after the creation of the Transmission Service Operator (TSO) department.
He said the development demonstrated the growing technical capacity within TCN, adding that the platform also incorporates role-based access, structured data uploads and audit trails to strengthen accountability.
Under the new system, staff will use individual login credentials, replacing shared logins and uncontrolled spreadsheet access.
Aguiyi also demonstrated the platform using outage data for July 2026, noting that the figures were based on raw submissions from regional teams and would serve as a basis for cross-referencing with the official release of the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO).
He said 3,714 outages were recorded nationwide during the month, resulting in 48,603 megawatt-hours (MWh) of lost load.
The Lagos region alone accounted for 20,693 MWh of the lost load, with 572 emergency outages, 306 forced outages and 129 planned outages recorded.
He further disclosed that 22 feeders exceeded allowable outage hours, resulting in losses valued at about ₦720.33 million.
Giving an example, Aguiyi said the Obosi feeder in Onitsha recorded a loss of 1,063.74 MWh at Band A rates.
He, however, clarified that the 33kV feeder-level outage figures represented the segment for which TCN was accountable in July and should be distinguished from outages attributable to Distribution Companies (DisCos).
The platform also incorporates the Fault Attribution Ratio (FAR), a regulatory framework used to determine responsibility for service interruptions between TCN and DisCos.
Aguiyi explained that under the Service Level Agreement, TCN’s allowable downtime responsibility is 30 per cent, while DisCos account for 70 per cent.
He stressed that the figures represented the allocation basis for permitted downtime and not a fixed division of every outage, as each incident was to be attributed based on the identified fault type and responsible network segment.
According to him, the system would strengthen accountability and facilitate appropriate compensation by clearly establishing responsibility for service disruptions.
He added that full deployment of the platform, alongside the required interface energy measurement devices, would also enable TCN to monitor the Transmission Losses Factor (TLF) across the network.
Aguiyi recommended nationwide deployment of the platform, integration of Internet of Things (IoT) technology for real-time data capture, and upgrades to infrastructure, including systems, display screens and internet connectivity at transmission stations.
The Executive Director, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Mrs Abiodun Afolabi-Fadahunsi, reaffirmed management’s commitment to providing technical teams with the necessary tools and resources to maintain national grid stability.
She said the company was monitoring daily grid reports to identify and address operational challenges in real time.
Fadahunsi also commended engineers and system operators for their professionalism and resilience, assuring that management would continue to support them in ensuring seamless operations.
The unveiling of the platform represents a major step towards digitising TCN’s outage reporting and grid management processes, with the potential to improve transparency, accelerate decision-making and identify areas of inefficiency across the transmission network.
