The lingering challenge of gas supply in the nation’s power sector left 1,753.4 megawatts generation capacity at 10 power plants idle on Monday.
The nation’s total unutilised electricity generation capacity stood at 2,131.9MW as of 6am on Monday, with low load demand by the distribution companies stalling the generation of 378.5MW.
The power plants affected by gas constraints included Olorunsogo I, Geregu II, Omoku, Paras Energy, and Olorunsogo II.
Others were Omotosho II, Gbarain, Ihovbor, Afam VI and Sapele II, according to data obtained from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator.
The NESO data also showed that the plants on the national grid produced 4,572.4MW as of 6am on Monday.
Six plants, namely Olorunsogo II, Ihovbor, Gbarain, Azura-Edo, AES and ASCO, did not produce any megawatts of electricity as of 6am on Monday.
The country generates the bulk of its electricity from gas-fired power plants, while output from hydropower plants makes up about 30 per cent of total generation.
One of the hydropower plants, Shiroro, generated the most electricity (435MW) as of 6am on Monday. It was followed by Egbin, the nation’s biggest power plant, which produced 417MW.
The Chairman, Board of Directors, Egbin Power Plc, Mr Temitope Shonubi, said last month that the plant, located in Lagos, had the capacity to evacuate at least 860MW of power but was evacuating about 500MW.
“Once the TCN (Transmission Company of Nigeria) can evacuate the power we are generating; it simply means that there will be more power out there,” he had said.
The TCN, which manages the national grid, is still fully owned and operated by the government.
Power generation on the national grid hit an all-time peak of 5,520.4 megawatts on October 30, surpassing the 5,459MW recorded on October 28, according to the TCN.
