21 February 2017, Abuja – About 16 power generating turbines have in the last one week become functional and pushed up electricity generation from a little above 3,000 megawatts recorded earlier this month to 4,302.1MW on February 18, 2017.
Findings showed that since the 16 turbines of the various power plants across the country began to function, electricity generation had stabilised at over 4,000MW, rising to 4,378.7MW on February 16.
While officials of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing attributed the development to the recent improvement in gas supply to the power plants, data from the sector obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Monday revealed that since the country crossed the 4,043.7MW mark on February 13, electricity generation had continue to rise.
Industry data showed that on February 19, three power generation plants, Transcorp, Omotosho I and Olorunsogo I, gained additional turbine functionality, while the average power sent out by the generation companies on the day was 3,917MWhour/hour.
Two days earlier, Afam VI and Olorunsogo I recorded functionality in additional turbines and the average power sent out was put at 3,833MWh/hour.
On February 16, Trancorp Ughelli Power reported that it recorded functionality in 10 of its turbines, while the average power sent out by the Gencos was 3,929MWh/hour.
Similarly, the Alaoji NIPP, Ihovbor NIPP, Okpai and Ibom restored additional turbines to functionality on February 15, and the average power sent out by the generation companies on the day was 3,799MWh/hour.
It should be noted that the quantum of power generated is different from the amount sent out by the Gencos, as some fraction is either lost through line constraints or left as spinning reserves.
The National Control Centre for the power sector had on February 14, 2017 declared that “improvements in domestic gas supply has resulted in lower gas constraints.”
- Punch
