The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, has revealed that a fire incident which engulfed the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) near Okada in Edo State, has led to the loss of 3,182 megawatts (MW) of electricity across six Generation Companies (GenCos).
A statement said the incident occurred last Tuesday causing the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Ltd (NGPTC) to shutdown the pipeline supplying gas to the plants.
The affected GenCos include, 1,320MW Egbin GenCo and 60MW Paras GenCo in Lagos State; 676MW Olorunsogo NIPP GenCo and 338MW Olorunsogo GenCo in Ogun State. The others are 450MW Omotosho NIPP GenCo and 338MW Omotosho GenCo in Ondo State.
The statement noted that there was sustained increase in generation and distribution of power since September 2017, before the incident this week. “The sudden loss of generation due to interruption in gas supply from these stations caused the national transmission grid to trip off around 8:00pm January 2, 2018,” it added.
The ministry said the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) which controls the grid and the GenCos worked to restore operation of the national grid after which the hydropower GenCos and other unaffected GenCos will increase production to minimize the impact of the loss.
While the NGPTC, a subsidiary of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) takes steps to restore gas supply, the ministry appealed to electricity customers to be patient while it overcomes the temporary setback.
