Increasing gas constraints and other factors have left seven of the nation’s 26 power plants including Olorunsogo idle, with significant reduction in the generation from several others including Egbin in Lagos, a report from Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has indicated.
The total national power generation, which stood at 4,176.3 megawatts on March 31, fell to 3,366MW on Thursday, April 6, exacerbating the outage being experienced by households and businesses.
Electricity generation from Egbin, the nation’s biggest power station, stood at 178MW on Thursday, down from 1,085MW on March 15, 2016. The plant has an installed capacity of 1,320MW, consisting of six units of 220MW each.
The nation generates most of its electricity from gas-fired power plants, while output from hydro-power plants make up about 30 per cent of total generation.
Unutilised generation capacity increased from 1,779.5MW on March 31 to 2,495.1MW on April 6, with 2,405.1MW caused by gas constraint and 90MW as a result of water management/maintenance.
Apart from Olorunsogo II in Ogun State, other power plants not generating any megawatt of electricity were Alaoji II in Abia State; Afam IV & V; Trans-Amadi; AES; ASCO and Rivers IPP.
The report also shows that the nation’s power grid recorded 10 collapses in the first quarter of the year, as the quantum of spinning reserve aimed at forestalling such occurrence remained low.
Electricity generation plunged to zero megawatt eight times in the period, the latest being on February 22, the industry data obtained by our correspondent on Friday showed.
The national grid recorded two partial collapses, with the latest occurring on March 16, according to the data.
Out of the six power stations meant to provide spinning reserves, only one had actual reserve of 10MW as of 6am on Thursday, up from 3.8MW on March 31, the data showed.
The power stations are Egbin, Kainji, Delta, Olorunsogo II, Geregu II, and Omotosho II, with combined reserve capacity of 295MW.
Spinning reserve is the generation capacity that is online but unloaded and can respond within 10 minutes to compensate for generation or transmission failure.
The reserve capacity and actual reserve of Egbin and Kainji stood at zero as of Friday, while the capacity and actual reserve of Delta were 80MW and zero, respectively.
Olorunsogo II and Geregu II had reserve capacity of 40MW and 35MW, respectively; while their actual reserves stood at zero.
The actual reserve at Omotosho II stood at 10MW and 3.8MW on Thursday and March 31, respectively, out of a reserve capacity of 40MW, the data showed.
President, Nigerian Association for Energy Economics, Prof. Wumi Iledare, noted that the nation’s electricity transmission network remained very weak.
“Right now, we don’t have investors who want to come into transmission when you don’t have an established market forces to pay for the transmission. So, that is why the government is still involved in transmission; it is a highly risky business,” he told our correspondent.
According to him, when the government is able to demonstrate that transmission is profitable, it may be able to attract a lot of investors.
Chief Executive Officer, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, Mr. Azu Obiaya, stressed the need to provide an enabling environment in order to attract the required investment to improve the sector.
He said, “We all have to recognise that we have roles to play. Consumers must recognise that electricity has a price, which must be paid; operators must recognise that their performance requirements that must be met; and the government must recognise that it has the responsibility for ensuring an enabling environment for private sector investment.”
Punch
