A report from the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has revealed that electricity consumers connected to the national grid need additional output of 14,622megawatts (Mw) to meet their requirements.
The company’s daily operational report showed that between Sunday and Tuesday this week, national peak demand forecast has been above 17,000Mw while output remains slightly above 3,000Mw.
The report said that the national peak demand forecast was 17,720Mw while generation stood at 3,097.3Mw, reflecting a shortfall of 14,622.7Mw. Generation to the national grid, according to the report, has been about 3,000Mw since July, when attacks on gas pipelines by the Niger Delta militants started reducing.
The TCN also said the nation has installed transmission capacity of 11,165.40Mw while the functional facilities, if optimally utilised, can supply 7,139.60Mw. The shortfall may be due to several constraints, including facility breakdown.
The Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the umbrella body of all the electricity distribution companies in Nigeria, Mr. Sunday Olurotimi Oduntan, said the estimated national peak demand forecast of about 17,000Mw by the TCN is only a fraction of the actual national demand as the huge energy-consuming firms are not connected to the grid.
Oduntan said it was difficult to determine national consumption as most of the big consumers are off-grid. “The actual national energy demand may be difficult to determine because many organisations, industrial concerns and rural communities such as the Redeemed Christian Church and Winners chapel headquarters as well as Dangote Industries Limited, among many others, are not connected to the grid.
“There huge power deficit in Nigeria, but going by the number of customers, currently captured on the grid, 20,000Mw would be able to give the stable electricity supply expected by Nigerians. However, It is a herculean task to be able to generate the 20,000Mw that I feel will enable industrial firms to comfortably connect to the national grid,” he said.
Also, contrary to allegations of poor capacity leveled against the TCN, including inability to wheel more than 5,000Mw to power distribution firms, the TCN, as at Monday, said its transmission capability was 7,000Mw while the network operational capability was 5,500Mw.
