Electricity generation still down by 930mw
Electricity generation is still down by about 930 megawatts (mw) due to vandalisation of major gas pipeline infrastructures, according to recent operational statistics from the National Control Centre (NCC) in Osogbo.
The statistics released at the weekend also revealed that peak generation remained stagnated at 3,220mw.
The report further said while minimum energy generated was 2,438mw, a previous data recorded 3,082.68mw of energy sent out.
The drastic reduction in the national grid is however in sharp contrast with the improvement being recorded at the year’s inception especially in February when NCC records revealed an increased total maximum capacity of 4,151mw with its minimum capacity evacuation at 3,703mw.
Recall that the highest generation in the annals of electricity system grid in Nigeria was achieved in 2012 when power generation rose to 4,517.6mw on December 23rd.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) was also reported noting a significant stabilising of the grid network between 4,400
and 4,500mw in February 2013 shortly after its fall from 4,500mw in January.
The trend fluctuation continued till December 2013 with a record of about 3,563mw, weeks after government had privatised major power utilities including the generation and distribution assets under the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
But the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, had recently attributed the loss in generation capacity to vandalism, gas supply shortage and the loss of transmission lines.
“I wish to reiterate that gas shortage not only affects the availability of power for dispatch to consumers but the frequency of system collapses is also strongly correlated to this menace.”
Other factors that recently impacted on service delivery in the sector include occasional loss of transmission lines and substations across the country,” Nebo said.
He also assured that within the next few weeks, most of the challenges would have been addressed and supply would have improved.