Oscarline Onwuemenyi
15 September 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The nation’s power grid witnessed six instances of total system collapses and one incident of partial system collapse in the second quarter of this year, essentially due to generation limitations, reports from the independent System Operator (SO) have shown.
Specifically, in June, there were five instances of total system collapses and three incidents of partial system collapse, due to generation limitations.
“The Grid witnessed six instances of total system collapses and one incident of partial system collapse, essentially due to generation limitations. Total generation again went down by 19.23 per cent compared with energy generated in May” stated the System Operation, in its national grid performance information,” the report stated.
The System Operator noted that generation output from the thermal power stations especially those located outside the Niger Delta region continued to be adversely affected by the pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region.
According to the agency, while Egbin Power Station made the highest contribution into the National Grid with 15.81 per cent, Afam VI Power Station came second with 13.81 per cent and Geregu Power Station provided the least at 0.46 per cent.
It noted that Afam I-V, Gbarain, AES, Rivers IPP and Omoku Power Stations operated at zero levels. The agency disclosed that a new Independent Power Plant (IPP), Paras Energy came on stream with the contribution of 0.94 per cent.
“Paras Energy, located along the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, has a bilateral Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), with Eko Electricity Distribution Company for the supply of all its generated energy,” it added.
It lamented that generation output from the thermal power stations especially those located outside the Niger Delta region continued to be adversely affected by the pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region.
The report further stated that, “Total energy produced dwindled by as much as 13.73 per cent in May compared with energy available in April.”
Afam VI Power Station owned by Shell over took Egbin Power Station by making the highest contribution to the Grid with 17.32 per cent. Egbin power station came second with 15.63 per cent.
The new entrant, Gbarain Power Station (one of the NIPP plants constructed by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company) contributed the least with 0.38 per cent. Olorunsogo Power Station, which contributed 0.72 per cent in April, made no contribution in May.