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Power output from Nigeria’s generating companies (GenCos) dropped to 3,014.8 megawatts (MW), yesterday from a monthly average of 3,578MW in August, latest data from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo, has shown.
At 50.17Hz with installed capacity of 6,985.9MW and generation capability of 5,983.1MW of available units, power generation has remained low and insufficient to meet the nation’s energy demand.
Besides, constrained revenue between July and August rose to N92.28 billion within the 49-day period.Similarly, gas supply needed to boost generation dropped to 9,618 million standard cubic feet (mmscf) within the last 18 days in August, against 21,109 mmscf recorded last month.
Data from the Office of Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, indicated that last month, Nigeria’s privatised power sector lost a total of N57.62 billion in revenue due to constraints, which included shortage of gas; grid unreliability, and distribution limitations.
The loss in August, may likely fall within the same range as constrained revenue hovers at N34.66billion for the period under review.The data obtained by The Guardian from the Advisory Power Team in Osinbajo’s office, showed that for this period, the average volume of electricity generated and distributed daily to Nigerian homes and offices was 3,578MW per day, while an average of 3,801MW was constrained from getting to consumers by these limitations.
The industry data equally revealed that total volume of gas supplied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to gas power generation plants in the country for the period has continued to drop by at least 26.5 per cent.According to the data, Nigeria’s power sector attained a peak generation of about 4,998MW during the period.
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had last week, expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of electricity distribution companies in the country, saying there is a need for a substantial change of strategy in order to meet the electricity needs of homes and businesses.He lamented the inability of the Discos to distribute available grid power to consumers.
“The distribution capacity in the 11 Discos is significantly low, hovering at around 4,000 megawatts on average with a peak at about 5,400MW. So, despite all the availability of about 8,000MW of generation and 7,000MW of transmission capacity, the lack of Disco infrastructure to absorb and deliver grid power to end-users has largely restricted generation to an average of about 4,000MW, and sometimes even falling below 4,000MW,” Osinbajo said.
Delta Power Station generated 364.52MW during the period as against its installed capacity of 900MW, Egbin 2, 361.61MW; Shiroro 313.09MW; Kainji 284.43MW, while ASCO and AES did not generate anything during the period.
