By Isqil Najim
The Katsina Branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) at the weekend inducted new members into the Society and used the occasion to canvass the urgent adoption of renewable energy technologies to tackle the lingering challenge of grid instability bedevilling the nation’s power sector.
The dual event combining June monthly meeting and induction Ceremony held on Sunday at the Branch Secretariat, attracted engineering professionals, newly inducted members, representatives of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), and other stakeholders within the built environment.
The Branch Chairman, Engr. Shamsuddeen Bashir IronBaba, welcomed members and led deliberations on branch updates, financial reports, as well as preparations towards the forthcoming national congress and the annual COREN Assembly.
As part of the event, a technical paper titled “Renewable Energy Integration to Grid: The Challenges, Solutions and Benefits” was presented by an academic and industry expert, Engr. Aliyu Hamza Sule of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic.
Dr. Sule painted a vivid picture of the technical and economic hurdles confronting Nigeria’s quest to integrate solar and wind energy into the national grid, noting that the erratic, weather-dependent nature of renewable sources poses a peculiar threat to a grid that was originally designed around the steady, predictable output of conventional thermal and hydro plants.
According to him, when solar and wind power are introduced into the system without proper coordination, the resultant fluctuations could trigger power quality problems, harmonics, and in worse cases, total grid collapse.
He called for the deployment of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) across the network to give grid operators real-time visibility into how electricity is flowing and behaving at any given moment, stressing that this would help operators detect and respond to instability before it snowballs into outright collapse.
He equally pushed for widespread adoption of smart metering, stressing that real-time data from consumers’ end would allow for better demand forecasting and more efficient distribution planning.
The Polytechnic don further recommended the use of Machine Learning-based forecasting models to predict, with greater accuracy, how much solar or wind power will be available at any point in time, noting that such predictive tools have become indispensable in countries that have successfully scaled up renewable energy without compromising grid reliability.
To stabilise the network against the swings introduced by renewables, he advocated for the installation of Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) devices, particularly Static Synchronous Compensators (STATCOMs), describing them as critical equipment that help maintain voltage stability and keep the grid dynamically balanced even when variable energy sources are pumping power into it.
Beyond the technology, Dr. Sule made a strong case for what he termed virtual distributed generation inertia, a concept aimed at compensating for the loss of natural grid stability that occurs when conventional spinning generators are gradually replaced with renewable sources that do not provide the same mechanical inertia.
He stressed that without deliberate engineering interventions to replace this lost inertia, the grid would remain vulnerable no matter how much renewable capacity is added.
He also called for the enforcement of strict grid codes and regulatory standards that would compel every renewable energy project, whether solar farm or wind installation, to meet defined technical benchmarks before being allowed to connect to the national grid, warning that haphazard integration without such standards was a recipe for the very instability the country was trying to avoid.
Turning to Katsina State, the Don described the state as sitting at a major advantage given its vast solar energy potential, and urged relevant authorities to take deliberate steps to harness this potential under the newly decentralised framework introduced by the Electricity Act, which now empowers states to generate, transmit and distribute power within their borders without necessarily waiting on the national grid.
He stated that with the right policy backing, proper enforcement of technical standards, and investment in the smart grid tools, Katsina and other states in the region could become net contributors of clean energy rather than perpetual consumers of an overstretched national grid.
The participants at the event made various contributions cutting across funding, manpower training and the bureaucratic bottlenecks often associated with infrastructural rollout in the country.
The highlight of the event was the induction of new engineers into the profession. The exercise was conducted on behalf of the National President of the Society, Engr. Ali Rabiu, who was represented by the North-West Vice President, Engr. Aliyu Dutsinma,
The NSE Vice President charged the new members to uphold professionalism, integrity and continuous learning as they begin their journey in a profession he described as central to nation-building.
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