The management of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) says it is facing systemic transmission and distribution problems that have been stalling the supply of about 3,599 megawatts of electricity to consumers.
The Managing Director, NDPHC, Chiedu Ugbo, on Wednesday during a courtesy call to the Minister of Water Resources, Adamu Suleiman, in Abuja, said the eight power plants it was managing had a combined power generation capacity of 4,099MW.
He explained stated that a very large percentage of this quantum of electricity was not taken by power distributors in the value chain due to transmission and distribution bottlenecks.
Ugbo said that the NDPHC had to also invest in transmission and distribution assets to help in the evacuation and distribution of electricity.
He said, “We have 4,099MW but not all are taken in the grid due to systemic problems.
“If you check today, we have 500 – 700MW on the grid. That is not to say our machines are bad; it is because of transmission and distribution challenges.”
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He said, “In those areas too, NDPHC has done significant work. We pride ourselves as having invested about 50 per cent of the transmission assets in the country.
“We have invested heavily in transmission and distribution assets all over the country, in every state.”
Speaking on the purpose of his visit to the water ministry, the NDPHC boss appealed for the ministry’s in the execution of small and medium hydro projects it embarked on across the country.
He explained that the NDPHC was looking at setting up small hydro plants on existing dams in Nigeria, especially those in the northern part of the country.
He explained that most irrigation projects required a lot of water but could not operate without electricity, and urged the NDPHC to support the projects by installing solar power plants in them.
