Electricity grid ends 2017 on 4,746MW, loses N1.2bn to constraints
The Nigerian electricity grid ended year 2017 on a peak generation of 4,746 megawatts (MW) as at December 31, just as N1.2 billion was lost to shortfalls in electricity generation on December 28, Daily Trust reports.
The lowest generation on December 31 was 3,364MW while about 93,385 megawatt hour (MWH) was sent for distribution to customers of the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos).
In the same period of 2016, the grid peaked at 4,208MW which was 538MW less than what was obtained last Sunday. The lowest generation of 3,407MW on December 31, 2016 was however higher than the lowest generation of 3,364MW obtained on December 31, 2017, report from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) showed.
Meanwhile, the national grid generated 99,144MWH on December 28 while it lost 64,344MWH to various constraints including challenges with transmission, DisCos’ rejection of electricity and gas shortage.
The energy loss was valued at N1.287bn, the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry Statistics (NESIStat) website for the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) of the Federal Government showed yesterday.
Daily Trust reports that in 2017, the electricity grid had battled several constraints with most occurring on the inadequate distribution of electricity and the least based on water management issue at the three hydropower generation stations.
The issue of gas constraint was at top level in early 2017 before it began to reduce from June 2017 when government said it began injecting a N701.9bn Payment Assurance Guarantee (PAG) for the GenCos to promptly get 80 per cent of their monthly invoices and pay for gas and other services.
The distribution issue was however unresolved. One of the attempts made was the eligible customer declaration to decongest the DisCos’ network and allow certain industrial customers to buy power directly from the GenCos.
It is yet to materialise as it started late in the year and the results are expected to start showing in the first few months of this year.