PEEMADI: The NASENI's Electrical Power Equipment Development Institute I didn't Know know

By Abdelghaffar Amoka 

16/02/2025

Electric power engineering was never among the courses of my choice before getting to the university. It has always been medicine: Yes! I wanted to be a Medical Doctor. However, physics chose me when I got to the university. After the Nation Youth Service in 2001 and with the coming of GSM in Nigeria and the internet becoming popular, I found interest in telecommunication. Fiber optics and photonics was of particular interest. I remember borrowing some books on photonics from IEE, now IET library in London, as a student member of the Institute. 

A few years later, I found a new interest in dielectrics, a branch of physics with applications in high voltage equipment. That was how my PhD work got me into high voltage engineering, a branch of electric power engineering. High voltage engineering became my first love since I could not find a wife then.

At the end of my PhD in 2012, I realised that Nigeria's electric power industry lacked resources in power utility management. I returned home with a tall dream of initiating a laboratory for power transformer monitoring and diagnostics. The Centre for Power Transformer Monitoring, Diagnostics and Life Management at the Monash University, Australia was a huge motivation. 

I sent a proposal about my dream to my Vice Chancellor in 2013, a proposal that I was invited to present at the university management meeting a few days later. However, I knew of a government agency called NASENI (National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure) in Abuja but was not aware of their mandate and activities.

While I was making efforts to realise my dream in ABU, I was not aware that NASENI has an Institute whose mandate includes what I have been trying to achieve since after my PhD in 2012. The appointment of a colleague in high voltage engineering as the MD of the Institute made me get to know a bit about the Institute.

The Institute is popularly called PEEMADI (Power Equipment and Electrical Machinery Development Institute) located in Okene. It was established in 2004 at NASENI headquarters and moved to Okene in 2008.

I wanted a one-year sabbatical leave appointment, and I didn't want to teach and mark scripts. NASENI then offered me a sabbatical appointment and posted me to PEEMADI in Okene. The appointment came with mixed feelings. I considered Okene far as I didn't want to go too far away from my family in Zaria. 

But the mixed feelings changed after the resumption. I was taken around and realised NASENI-PEEMADI is an Institute that I underrated. As a matter of fact, the activities of the Institute are underreported. The first thing that changed my mind was the mission. From the mission, I was like; PEEMADI is a place to be for the one-year sabbatical leave despite the distance from home. It is purposefully established. 

But what is the mission?

The creation and promotion of an enabling environment for nurturing creativity and innovation that will generate new ideas for the design, maintenance and manufacturing of power equipment that will ensure the growth of the power sector to support and galvanize the country’s industrialization and human capital development.

The mandates are:

To develop and support standard-based approaches for achieving local capacity for the establishment of High Voltage technology, equipment and processes. To develop standard procedures for testing and production of Electrical Machinery and Power Equipment. Liaising and collaborating with appropriate local and international institutions for the development of the requisite technology and best practices required to serve and nurture sustainability in the power sector. Research, design, develop and manufacture of alternative and renewable energy sources.

They have facilities such as a Generation, Transmission and Utilization (GTU) training module, Wind Energy Training Module, Solar energy training module, Full smart grid 2.0 and wind energy trainer with a wind tunnel, Process control trainer and virtual process control simulation, among other things. These are excellent facilities for training. So, watch out for the PEEMADI training workshop on electricity generation, transmission, and distribution networks and other training workshops that will follow. 

The Institute has sound and enthusiastic science and engineering researchers. They have a monthly forum to share ideas. The seminar takes place last Wednesday of every month. I had the privilege to make a presentation at the January 2025 edition of the seminar. The seminar, which was well attended, was used to welcome me to PEEMADI. 

The Institute have developed interesting pieces of equipment/devices. Among the developed devices are: smart prepaid meter with features such as home automation via Android app control, Biometric-based Staff Attendance Management System, LPG leakage detector that we all need in our homes, especially the kitchen, 100 kVA, 11/0.415 kV Distribution Transformer, etc. An interesting product I saw at PEEMADI was an attempt to develop an online transformer diagnostic kit with a sensor for hotspot temperature monitoring. Something I developed a proposal on last year but for with multiple sensors.

Among the services provided by PEEMADI are: Solar PV systems design, installation, maintenance, and training. Generation, Transmission and Utilization (GTU) training. Consultancy and Training in High Voltage Testing and Diagnosis of Power System Equipment. Training in Computer Aided Design and other electrical engineering software. General Consultancy in Power Equipment and Electrical Machines. 

The NASENI's new policy of 3Cs (CREATE, COLLABORATE and COMMERCIALIZE) is taken with utmost seriousness at PEEMADI. You can't make an impact if your developed and patented products are just on the shelf. The manufacturing industry need to take advantage of the country's huge population.

However, our SMEs have challengea that we must work to overcome. We need to create an environment that would favour manufacturing at competitive prices in Nigeria. Meanwhile, there is an ongoing move to engage the relevant stakeholders towards developing production lines for the developed products to enable mass production at competitive prices. 

A part of the ongoing projects at PEEMADI is the development of power equipment insulation components from local resources such as Natural ester-based transformer oil, Nano-enhanced epoxy bushing development, and Fibre-enhanced Ceramic-based porcelain development. The other project is the development of an AI-based transformer prediction system that includes the development of the required sensors from local resources.

I am yet to lay my hands on the Nigerian Electrical Insulation materials market data. But Global Electrical Insulation Materials Market is valued at USD 10.6 billion in 2022, this market is projected to reach USD 14.3 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 6.2%.

Considering Nigeria's ongoing investments in power infrastructure and the increasing demand for efficient electrical components, introducing advanced insulation materials could capture a substantial market share. If the PEEMADI prototypes achieve a 5% market penetration in Nigeria's power sector, this could translate to significant revenue, given the market's valuation in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

PEEMADI is an Institute to collaborate with. So, take advantage of it.

Written by Abdelghaffar Amoka