Gas, Water, Grid Constraints Drops Nigeria’s Power by 16,458MW – Report

Nigeria lost 16,458.9 megawatts of power as gas supply, national grid and water management constraints shut down 25 its 29 electricity Generation Companies (Gencos) last week.

In a report obtained from the Advisory Power Team of Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbanjo, only four Gencos were able to fully carry out their generated volumes within the six-day period. While others had issues of gas, water and grid issues, five Gencos were completely shut down.

A total of 6, 2,078.5MW was not generated into the grid with gas shortages accounting for 1,508MW starting from May, while water management and grid challenges led to a loss of 150MW and 419.5MW respectively for a six-day period. Power generation deteriorated even further on May 7 with another 2,606.6MW lost.

Out of this gas, grid and water management constraints accounted for 1,547.5MW, 909.1MW and 150MW respectively.

It then nose-dived even further on May 8 as another 2,733.1MW was lost.

Losses in power continued on May 9 and 10 as the losses rose to 3,057.1MW and 3,272.5MW, with gas constraints accounting for 1,674MW and 1,472.5MW, while grid issues accounted for 1,383.1MW and 1,650MW respectively. There was also a water management issue on May 10, which resulted to 150MW unavailable.

On May 11, the total constrained was 2,711.1MW with gas constraint been 1,472.5MW while grid had 1,126.1MW. The report showed that N8.100 billion worth of revenue was lost in this regards.

Further on a day-by-day supply basis, it explained that 4,270MW was supplied to the grid on May 6; 4,426MW on May 7; 3,322MW on May 8; and then an abysmal 1,585MW on May before it went up to 3,069MW on May 10, and then 3,751MW on May 11.

Last Wednesday, the country’s electricity grid experienced a collapse which the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reportedly said was as a result of a tripping of its transmission line along the Onitsha route. TCN also said a sudden stop of operation by a Genco caused the collapse, and hinted it had asked the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to approve its procurement of a 250MW spinning reserve to forestall such incidences.

Nigeria’s power challenges have been on decades, although successive governments have promised to fix it, there seem to be no light yet at the end of the tunnel for mostly homes, businesses, hospitals where power is pivotal to their sustenance.

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