26 August 2015, Abuja – Power generation for the first time in Nigeria has risen to an all-time high of 4,748.1 megawatts, sustaining the steady increase that has characterised the electricity generation in the past two months.
A report obtained on Tuesday from the Presidential Task Force on Power showed that the new figure was attained around 9.15pm on Monday.
The country’s last peak power generation of 4,724.6MW was recorded on August 22, 2015, while the peak demand was put at 14,630MW, the report stated.
This is coming as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission attributed the problems facing the power sector to corruption and poor budgeting.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria said it wheeled the 4,748.1MW as a result of coordinated efforts by operators.
The Managing Director, System Operation/Market Operation, Mr. Dipak Sarma, said, “This has been made possible due to a coordinated effort of the TCN with the generating companies and the distribution companies.”
He said based on the wheeling capability of the TCN network and implementation of real-time online power optimisation tools developed by the company’s National Control Centre, the Discos were requested to deliver more power to their consumers by connecting more load.
“This can push the generation to further higher levels given the fact that fuel supply to the generators is stable and adequate,” he added.
On how corruption had impacted negatively on the sector, the Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, said that before 2010, the sector suffered the problem of modelling, adding that it had been bedevilled by poor project management and fraud, particularly with procurement.
Amadi spoke at a workshop organised by NERC to present a template for effective project management to electricity industry performance managers in Abuja on Tuesday.
The NERC boss said the power problems had hampered effective delivery of projects within a targeted time frame in the sector.
According to Amadi, by now, Nigeria would have hit about 9,000MW if all the National Integrated Power Projects had been completed and the capacities of existing electricity generation companies recovered.
He said, “Today, the real problem of this sector is performance management. We have moved from modelling and have set a fairly good enough model that will allow us to create sustainable electricity. The problem is poor project management and it includes corruption, which, of course, is the beginning. I say this because if you miss procurement, if you award contracts to those who cannot deliver, then there is no magic that can be done.
“If we had delivered all the NIPP projects, recovered all the capacity of existing electricity generation companies, we would have been doing over 8,000MW or 9,000MW today. So, the problem of the electricity sector is that we need to develop the skills, projects and deliver on these projects.”
Amadi said the meeting would provide the opportunity to present the performance management officials a template designed by NERC, adding that the template would enable the performance managers to learn how to deliver on projects in good time.