Hope Rises for Nigeria’s Power Sector as Generation Surges to 4,728.2MW
Nigeria’s power generation rose by 17.53 percent or 705.5 Megawatts, MW to 4,728.2MW on Saturday, from the 4,022.7MW recorded last Sunday, latest data by the National System Operator, NSO, has revealed.
The rise in power generation came after about five weeks of stagnation following the collapse of the National Grid on September 26, 2022. Electricity output had hovered around the 4,000MW mark as generation companies and the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, struggled to increase output.
An analysis of the data showed a steady increase in the past seven days rising to 4,238.3MW the next day, from 4,022.7MW on October 23, 2022. It rose further by 2.7 percent on October 25 but fell marginally by 0.06 percent on the 26th to 4,327MW.
The data showed that the steady generation continued in the next three days with 4,479.1MW, 4,647.9MW and 4,728.2MW recorded on October 27, 28 and 29, 2022 respectively.
Further checks showed that the lead generators that contributed to the improvement in grid supply were Shiroro Hydro, Jebba Hydro, Azura-Edo IPP, Egbin Power, Kainji Hydro, Delta Power and Odukpani National Integrated Power Project, NIPP.
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The Federal Government had on July 1, 2022, activated a partial Power Purchase Agreement, PPA, with generation companies, GenCos, for the supply of 5,505MW of electricity for peak generation and a base load of 4,893MW.
The agreement guaranteed payment for gas supplied to the GenCos by gas companies and also ensured that the generation companies were paid for power supplied to the national grid.
With the new partial power purchase agreements it means all the 25 power generation plants on the grid now have an agreement in place to generate a certain amount of power and get paid for it.
The bold step by the government has however been hampered by two national grid collapses, which pegged back effort to boost grid supply.The frequent collapse of the grid has led to calls by experts for a wholesale revamp of the electricity grid system.
In a note to Vanguard, the Executive Director, Networks, Niger Delta Power Holding Company, Ifeoluwa Oyedele, said it has become critical for the sector to acquire the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, SCADA, system.
He stated: “The National Grid is too large geographically. A SCADA System is an absolute must for the efficient operation of the Transmission Network.”
