30 September 2015, Lagos – Power supply from the national grid has dropped by 1,116.8 megawatts in the last one month since generation peaked at 4,810.7MW on August 25.
Generation fell to 3,693.90MW on Monday from 4,008.53MW recorded a day earlier, according to data obtained from the Federal Ministry of Power and the Presidential Task Force on Power on Tuesday.
Electricity generation stood at 3,780.71MW on Monday, according to the PTFP, compared to 4,098.31MW recorded on the previous day by the Power ministry.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria has, however, attributed the slide in power supply to the inability of the distribution networks to supply all available power generated to households and businesses.
The Acting Managing Director, TCN, Dr. Atiku Abubakar, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, said, “Right now, there is excess generation, which the distribution companies are not taking. The major issue is that the distribution system is not robust enough to take all the power that is being produced now.”
He noted that most of the distribution companies in the country had not improved on the networks they inherited from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria in November 2013.
“Since we achieved up to 4,800MW, it means the transmission network is capable of taking that amount of power, but it cannot be sustained because if the distribution network cannot carry the power all at the same time; it means the generation companies will have to switch off some of their units. So, we are having issues with distribution,” Abubakar said.
He added that the transmission system was currently capable of taking 5,300MW, noting that plans were underway to increase the capacity to 6,000MW by the end of the year.
Power supply to households and businesses in the country had recently dropped below the 4,000MW mark as 1,047.3MW was lost in seven days to August 31, when supply stood at 3,763.40MW, according to data from the PTFP.
The TCN had on August 25 achieved 4,810.7MW, which followed the record set the previous day, when 4,748MW was wheeled by its network.
The TCN recently said it would be engaging 30 local and foreign investors in its bid to raise funds to aid the expansion of the country’s power transmission infrastructure.
The company said it would be engaging the investors in its financing scheme as their capabilities in terms of technology and finances had been duly ascertained.
“The country will need to invest N15bn within two to three years to achieve 8,000MW. We have shortlisted them and now we are building the framework for repaying the investors,” Abubakar had explained.
According to him, the TCN has identified 130 ongoing projects that have been stalled as a result of lack of funds and other challenges.
He said out of this number, the company had identified 30 projects that were critical.
Beyond waiting for the investors, he said the company was also looking inwards by talking to the government and others to raise funds for project execution.
- Punch
