Power collapse: Power generation drops to 3,929MWs

THE improvements, in the power sector in terms of generation has suffered renewed set back, as a result of multiple systems collapse that affected the grid at the beginning of the New Year.

As a result of the system collapse, peak generation as at 6th of January dropped to 3,929 megawatts from the initial 5,222MWs.

Meanwhile, new statistics from Operational Report on Grid Performance for 7th January 2018 which was obtained from official website of the Nigerian Electricity System Operators (NESO) yesterday in Abuja revealed that as at 06:00 am, generation was 3,277MWs.

The three highest Nigerian peak generation records occurred in December 2017 on the 8th, 14th and 15th with 5156MW, 5077MW and 5103 MW respectively.

This is said to be the first for Nigeria and it comes on the tail of the announcement made in September 2017 that Nigeria’s power production capacity reached an all-time peak of 7,001 MW.

However, the successes suffered a major setback as a result of system collapses following a reported case of fire outbreak at the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System near Okada, Edo State, belonging to the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company Ltd (NGPTC).

This led to the shutdown of the pipeline supplying gas to Egbin 1,320MW; Olorunsogo NIPP 676MW, Olorunsogo 338MW, Omotosho NIPP 450MW, Omotosho 338 MW and Paras 60MW power stations.

The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, blamed the incident on the sudden loss of generation due to an interruption in gas supply from these stations, thus causing the national transmission grid to trip off when it did.