The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said that
the nation’s power generation capacity dropped slightly
from 3,959 megawatts from Jan. 4, to 3,751.90
megawatts on Jan. 12, due to dearth of gas, a
development that indicates more looming blackout,
Vanguard reports.
The Nigerian Electricity System Operator (SO) website, a
sub agency of TCN, disclosed the figure on its daily
forecast website on power generation data in Lagos on
Thursday.
TCN put the total output of all the generation
companies at 3,751.90 megawatts, which it said had
been transferred to the 11 distribution companies
across the country.
The website showed that the country’s power
generation also recorded lowest peak at 2,876.80
megawatts.
According to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry
(NESI) operational report for Jan. 4, the power sector hit
a peak generation of 4,959 megawatts as against 3,321
megawatts recorded in Dec. 2. NESI said that the sector
recorded highest system frequency of 51.27Hz; lowest
system frequency of 48.22 Hz; highest voltage recorded
was 372KV, while lowest voltage recorded on the same
day was 300KV.
An official of TCN, who preferred anonymity, said that
electricity generation had been dwindling due to
challenges of accessing gas by generation companies.
The official said that many power projects that could
boost the country’s generation were still pending due to
lack of fund and gas shortage to test run the turbines.
Similarly, a top management official of Egbin Power
Station, who also pleaded anonymity, said that the
power plant which usually generates over 1,000
megawatts had dropped to 375 megawatts due to gas
constraint. According to him, the plant, located in
Lagos, generates and distributes between 250
megawatts and 300 megawatts due to shortage of gas.
The official said that Egbin, with an installed capacity of
1,320 megawatts, had the capacity to wheel over 1,000
megawatts daily. He said that the plant had been
limited to less than 400 megawatts due to shortage of
gas.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power Works and Housing,
Babatunde Fashola, during the 11th Monthly
Stakeholders meeting in Lagos on Jan. 9, unveiled plans
to inaugurate some electricity projects this year.
Fashola said that some of the projects to be
inaugurated in the course of the year include the
completion of the Kaduna 215 megawatt power plant,
the Gurara project and the Gardin Kowa plant. Others
are switching of the Gudenda substation, as well as the
conclusion of the Katsina wind and the Abuja solar
farms.
The second phase of the Abuja solar project, he said
would run-up from 800 megawatts to 1.2 megawatts
and raised the hope of possibility of partnerships in the
area of development of hydro dams.
He also disclosed that there were 14 projects for
transmission in Lagos State and Ikeja West, the largest
in terms of transformer capacity, was undergoing
expansion to respond to the growing needs of
population.
“This tells you clearly that the transmission system is
not static, it is dynamic and expanding.”
According to the minister, the evacuation of power at
the Ikot Ekpene switching station is what has kept the
grid to almost 4,000 megawatts.
“We still have 3,000 megawatt out from the damage of
the Escravos and Forcados, so if that comes back, we
are almost at 7,000 megawatts, so the target is
incremental power.’’
