Ejiofor Alike
The current frequent disruption of electricity supply in the country, which is as a result of system disturbances came to a climax at the weekend with two system collapse occurring within 24 hours between Thursday and Friday, THISDAY has learnt.
The first system collapse, it was learnt, occurred at 0738 hours on Thursday, while restoration began at 1043 hours.
However, before the system could be restored, it was gathered that another system collapse, which was as a result of fire outbreak at Afam VI Power Station, occurred at 1809 hours on Friday.
The second collapse plunged the whole country into darkness for 16 hours, bringing average power generation to an all-time low of 630.46 megawatts of electricity, according to the Daily Hourly Load Demand Reports obtained by THISDAY.
The cause of the fire, which ravaged a section of the plant, was not immediately known.
But the daily demand report showed that while 2,161.56 megawatts was allocated to the 11 distribution companies for eight hours, the figure later dropped to zero megawatts, which lasted for 16 hours, thus bringing average generation during the 24-hour period to 630.46 hours.
According to the report, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), which gets 11 per cent of the generated power in Nigeria, was allocated 186.0 megawatts, 173.30MW, 161.20MW, 187.10MW, 134.10MW, 131.50MW and 92.90 for one hour each, before the company’s allocation dropped to zero, which lasted for 16 hours.
Before the weekend collapse of the system, the transmission infrastructure had recorded another collapse on January 15 and 17, in addition to a partial collapse on January 12, all caused by low generation, most of which were fueled by gas shortages to the power stations.
With the inability of the power generation companies to pay for gas, the suppliers of gas have channeled supply to industries and manufacturers that pay higher, thus reducing the gas available for power generation.
The inability of the Gencos to pay also stemmed from the failure of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to pay the gencos for the power generated, which is also attributed to the failure of the Discos to pay for the power allocated to them by the TCN for distribution to customers.
The Discos, on the other hand, have blamed their failure to meet their financial obligations to the other members of the value chain to the absence of cost-reflective tariffs and inability of the customers to pay electricity bills.
The result is the low generation, which has led to the frequent collapse of the system in recent days.
Speaking in Lagos recently when the House of Representatives Committee on Power and the management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) met with the customers of the distribution company to listen to their grievances, the Managing Director of TCN, Mr. AbubakarTambuwalAtiku blamed frequent system collapse on inadequate gas supply to the generating plants, and argued that the stability of the transmission network cannot be guaranteed whenever power generation drops below 3,000 megawatts.
According to him, the system is susceptible to collapse whenever generation is below 3,000MW, adding that the current 20 – 30MW spinning reserves is not enough to save the system from collapse whenever up to 300MW is suddenly lost by the grid.
