Power: Peak generation to hit 9000mw by Dec - FG

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali, has said power generation is expected to peak at 9000mw by December 2014 with more capacities from the 10 power stations under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs).

Igali made this disclosure yesterday, at the ministry’s headquarters during a presentation to the peer review team of the body of permanent secretaries in the Civil Service of the Federation, saying, “without electricity, our national thrust of being one of the largest economies in 2020 will not be possible.”

He said: “By year ending, peak generation should be up to 9000 megawatts (mw) as the NIPPs will add 4700mw to the already available 4500mw.”

Reports from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo as at Saturday showed that peak generation in the national grid stood at 4,021mw. Recall that the highest peak generation ever recorded in Nigeria was 4,517mw in December 2012.

The Peer Review Mechanism (PRM), according to Amb. Igali, is an initiative from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) to enhance the performance of permanent secretaries in the service.

Igali also disclosed that there is a restructuring in the Ministry of Power to include new departments. He said the Energy Resources Department (ERD) will deal with power generation from both public and private plants, with the Transmission and Distribution Department handling the related issues alone.

“In rural electrification, we have the Renewable Energy department especially which will fast track federal government’s effort to light up rural areas,” he said.