To Maintain
Quality, We Adhere to Set Standards- Engr. Hamisu
Engr. Hamisu is the man in charge of
ensuring that the planning involved in setting up all electrical installations
in Kaduna Electric is properly done, and in accordance with standards set by
the company and those set by the major regulators- NERC, NEMSA and NESIS.
He brings a wealth of experience in Power System Planning to the
execution of his job, and with so much passion and doggedness. In this
interview, he speaks about how regulations and strict supervision are helping
him achieve his set objectives. Read on…
Engr. Hamisu Usman, as the Team Lead
Power Systems Planning, tell us what your unit was set up to achieve?
HU: Power System planning is a unit
under the Engineering and Technical Services Department and it is saddled with
the following responsibilities:
i) To
conduct companywide power system planning studies that will add value to the
company’s operational effectiveness.
ii) To plan
layout of overhead lines and underground cable and solve problems such as
determining height, location, spacing, guying, and insulating of poles.
iii) To
ensure that all installations made are done with strict adherence to set
standards by local and international regulatory bodies.
iv) To carry out
load forecasting and analysis for proper growth of the company.
v) To perform distribution
circuit analysis for loading, voltage, reactive power, reliability, balancing
and coordination.
How well has it achieved the purpose for
which it was meant to serve?
HU: The Unit has so far achieved most of the purpose for which
it was meant especially in power system studies, mapping of the entire
company’s network, which really makes life easy in terms of job planning. We
use Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) application, which is an
open-source, and Java Open Street Map (JOSM). Most important achievement is
enforcing of standards in construction work being carried out by contractors,
which has to be in line with Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC),
Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry Standard (NESIS) and Nigerian Electricity
Management Service Agency (NEMSA). We are still a work in progress, we are
not there yet but we are very optimistic.
We understand that this unit is saddled
with the responsibility of maintaining the standards of the
company’s installations/equipment how well has this been achieved?
HU: As I mentioned earlier, we follow
NERC and NESIS standards which state the ‘Dos and Don’ts’ in terms of ensuring
safety standards on all electrical installations. This is why we inform all
contractors that we only commission projects that comply with Kaduna Electric’s
and NERC/NESI standards. We developed a checklist which our Substation design
engineers take to site for a second inspection before accepting the project.
Since there
are regulatory bodies that oversee the activities of the Discos, how would you
say their interference is affecting your job?
HU: I wouldn’t really call it
interference; their job and ours tend to complement each other. Knowing that
you have set standards binding on you makes it a lot easier to sanitize the
practice internally and that of contractors handling installations.
Have there been any sanctions since
takeover? If No, how are you able keep it that way? If yes, how was
it managed?
HU: There hasn’t been any. And as a
unit, we have been able to avoid sanctions by ensuring strict adherence to
regulations. We have some laid down standards in accordance with NERC and other
regulatory bodies. There is also strict and regular supervision; where we
detect any violation, the project will be denied commissioning.
What would
you consider your achievements since you became the Team Lead, PSPU?
HU: My achievement as a Team Lead
PSPU is that I carry all my team members along and I make sure the job is
interwoven such that network design can cover substation design. Also during my
lead, we have all Kaduna Electric’s network drawn, this include Distribution
Transformers and Power Transformers. We have record of all number of
distribution transformers, network route length both 33kv and 11kv.
No comments:
Post a Comment