The total amount of electricity that was available for distribution across Nigeria at the weekend was up by 349.97 megawatts (MW) after the drop in power generation caused by the disruption of gas supply to the power plants, records from the Office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, have shown.
The report from the Advisory Power Team in Osinbajo’s office said that on April 27, 2019, the average energy sent out was 3,937MW, representing an increase of 349.97MW from the supply recorded on the previous day.
According to the report, on April 26, 2019, average energy sent out was 3,587MW, down by 343.02MW.
The drop in power generation followed a disclosure last Friday by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) that four power generation companies (Gencos) were unable to generate electricity to the national grid due to gas supply challenges.
The TCN had said in a statement from its General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, that the national grid was experiencing reduced power generation due mainly to emergency maintenance by the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) of its gas pipeline supplying gas to Egbin, Omotosho, Olorunsogo and Paras Power Stations.
It explained that this was reportedly caused by leakage discovered on the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System, necessitating the total shutdown of the four power generating plants on April 25, 2019.
However, on Saturday, records showed that 2,382.50MW of electricity was not generated due to unavailability of gas, while 227.5MW was not generated due to unavailability of transmission infrastructure.
Also on that day, 849MW was not generated due to high frequency resulting from unavailability of distribution infrastructure.
The power sector, it stated lost an estimated N1.660 billion on April 27, 2019 due to insufficient gas supply, distribution infrastructure and transmission infrastructure.
Similarly, 2,602.50MW of power was not generated due to unavailability of gas on April 26, 2019, while 227.5MW was not generated due to unavailability of transmission infrastructure.
Another 1,238MW was not generated due to high frequency resulting from unavailability of distribution infrastructure, with the sector losing an estimated N1.953 billion on that day due to insufficient gas supply, distribution infrastructure and transmission infrastructure.
