Power Supply Drops Below 3,000MW Over Shortage of Gas

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Power Supply Drops Below 3,000MW Over Shortage of Gas

Power allocation to the 11 distribution companies, which had averaged 4,000 megawatts in recent months has further dropped to below 3,000MW following the inadequate supply of gas to the power stations as a result of the impact of the militant attacks on oil and gas facilities, THISDAY has learnt.

It was gathered from the “Daily Hourly Demand Records” obtained from one of the generation companies that actual supply averaged 2,924.51 megawatts last Monday.

According to the records, the 11 distribution were allocated 2,984 megawatts for one hour las Monday before the allocation dropped further to 2,921.92MW, which lasted for several hours.

It was however learnt that the actual generation was a bit higher than what was actually allocated to the Discos.

Also, the operational report of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) that highlights the “Spotlights on Grid Operations” showed that generation as at 6a.m. yesterday was 2,961.6MW

The report showed that on Tuesday, peak generation was 3,421.5MW while the lowest generation was 2,762.9MW, averaging 2,924.51MW.

The 2,924.51MW average generation was far below the projected National Peak Demand Forecast of 17,720MW, according to TCN.
Currently, the country has installed capacity of 11,165.40MW, but only 7,492.40MW is available.

Out of the 7,492.40MW that is available, the TCN has an installed capacity to wheel 7,000MW but the network operational capability is only 5,500MW.

Sustained attacks on oil and gas facilities by militants in the Niger Delta have affected the flow of gas to some power plants, leading to a loss of over 2,000MW from the grid.

Before the militants resumed attacks on gas pipelines, generation had hit 5,074MW on February 2. The recent attack on the Chevron’s Escravos export pipeline at Escravos offshore by the Niger Delta Avengers, which wiped off about 500MW from the grid was the latest attack that impacted power supply.

It was also gathered that many power stations are experiencing acute shortage of gas supply with 1,320MW-capacity Egbin Power Station being the worst hit.

It was also learnt that Egbin, which had achieved over 1,000MW before gas supply to the power stations worsened, was generating less than 300MW yesterday, according to TCN.

While several units of Egbin – ST3, 4 and 5 were impacted by gas constraints; Units ST1 and ST2 had other challenges.