Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has flagged off the construction of work on 132/33 KV power substations in Ijesa Isu Ekiti and Ilupeju Ekiti which has sparked excitement in the two towns and raised hope of stable power supply in many towns in the state.

The Governor who expressed delight that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in 2020 resulted in commencement of work said the project was borne out of the collaboration of his administration with the Federal Government to solve the problem of epileptic power supply in the state.

Represented by the Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, the Governor who described the project as “another milestone in the quest to make life comfortable for our people” said his administration fulfilled some obligations before the project could see the light of the day.

The Minister of Power, Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu, commended the Fayemi Administration for its commitment to the realization of the project and collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Power to boost power supply to more communities in Ekiti State and stimulate social and economic development.

Traditional rulers, community leaders, interest groups, indigenes and residents of the communities expected to benefit from the projects when completed lauded both the federal and Ekiti State governments for investing in the project to boost their social and economic lives.

The project also incorporates the construction of Ikere (Ado Ekiti)-Ijesa Isu-Ilupeju 50 Kilometer 133 KV Double Circuit Transmission Line to widen access to regular and reliable public power supply when completed.

Dr Fayemi charged the contractor to on the need to ensure the construction of quality project saying “the people of the state are interested in early completion without compromising standards.”

The Governor also restated the commitment of his administration to the ongoing work on the Independent Power Project (IPP) aimed at boosting power supply to government offices and facilities in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, to generate additional 5 megawatts.

The Federal Government has deployed a new technology as a stop-gap solution to the challenges confronting Nigeria’s power grid, the Transmission Company of Nigeria has said.

Officials of the company said the technology, comprising Internet of Things and the Virtual Private Network, was deployed by the government through TCN to monitor real-time grid operations and help mitigate power system collapse.

It was also gathered that the facility would boost power grid management at the National Control Centre, Osogbo in Osun State, as it would improve real-time operations of the national grid, pending the deployment of a long-term network automation system.

Nigeria’s power grid has recorded a series of collapses this year, throwing many parts of the country in darkness on those occasions.

The July 20, 2022 grid collapse made it the sixth time that the system had crashed in 2022. On June 13.

The nation’s power system collapsed twice in March and twice again in April this year.

Power generation on the grid has continued to fluctuate due to various concerns such as gas constraints, water management challenges, and gas pipeline vandalism, among others.

But the TCN stated on Wednesday that with its new technology the power grid would receive improved monitoring, as this would help in its management going forward.

“The deployment of the smart grid system is in the advanced stage of the procurement process for a robust deployment of a full-scale state-of-the-art Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition/Energy Management System,” the General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, stated.

TCN operates the national electricity grid with over 20,000km of 330 and 132 kilovolts transmission lines, which are said to be among the few largest transmission networks in Africa.

At the moment, Nigeria’s transmission network consists of high voltage substations with a proven 7,300 megawatts of electricity wheeling capacity, and still expanding.

This transmission system is being reformed by TCN as the Nigerian electricity market, which comprises the generation, transmission and distribution companies prepares for a competitive market stage away from the transitional stage it has been for over seven years.

This new stage will mean that all transactions are based on contracts with optimal customer service delivery.

And to test run this, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission pushed for the Service Level Agreement in 2021, which became binding on all operators to ensure improved service delivery to power users.

The Managing Director, TCN, Sule Abdulaziz, said the company had boosted the digitisation of grid operations, as the NCC’s control room was solely responsible for all activities related to grid network data acquisition, real-time grid operations and management for optimal service delivery.

Saint Kevin at Glendalough, is a small and very unique chapel church that is located in the glacial valley of Glendalough, in the County of Wicklow, within the Republic of Ireland.

Definitely one of the most unusual features of the small church is the round tower, or the belfry, where it has a conical cap and it is integrated with the church.

Dedicated to the Irish saint who is known as the founder and first abbot of Glendalough, the chapel is a great example of a builder’s desire to integrate a circular belltower within a rectangular church, creating this Irish treasure as a historic landmark of the eastern part of the country.

Standing three floors high, the tower can be accessed from the upper croft chamber of the church roof.

The roof itself is a different and unique story, as it is constructed entirely from cordelled stone in a steep shape.

Internally, the chapel is supported by a semi-circular vault, where a wooden upper floor can be seen with the access to the roof chamber.

There are no certain sources which would claim whether there was only a nave built when it was constructed in 12 century, but nowadays we are able to see the rectangular church that is surrounded by a stone wall marking the church’s grounds, with another smaller object right next to it.

Surrounded with the stupendous Irish nature, Saint Kevin is attracting visitors who would like to gaze at the unusual stone formation that was carved out by magnificent Irish builders.