The Federal Government said it is working on more firm Gas supply contracts for the Power sector backed by improved liquidity and will also complete the Zungeru Hydro Plant and others in a bid to improve the power supply crisis in Nigeria at the moment.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Mr Abubakar Aliyu in a statement shared by Special Adviser to President of Nigeria on Infrastructure, San Turakin Kazaure on Friday.
The special adviser hinted that gas supply disruptions due to sabotage and unplanned maintenance in places like Calabar and Ibom Power have exacerbated the issues.
What the Minister is saying
The Minister said, “I would like to discuss the increased load shedding you may have observed in Abuja and other areas of the country. With the reduction in Hydro capacity during the dry season, additional load needs to be taken up by our gas plants.
“We are having maintenance work in the Eastern Axis around Odukpani leading to reduced Power supply from the usually reliable NDPHC Calabar power Plant and we are having challenges at Okoloma Gas Station linked to Afam VI Power plant.
“We are working on the western axis that is precluding units from reaching optimum supply.
He said that the challenges are surmountable and FG has a 3 pronged approach it is executing:
- We are working on more firm Gas supply contracts for the Power sector backed by improved liquidity. these contracts will have stiff financial penalties for underperformance.
- Increase energy mix to improve energy security, we will complete the Zungeru Hydro Plant, the Katsina Wind Plant, Kashimbila Hydro as well as ensure the challenges with Gurara are permanently resolved. We are also working to resolve issues that have prevented large On-Grid solar from taking off in Nigeria.
- Re-tooling the System Operator for improved dispatch optimisation based on technologies and improved maintenance schedule alignments across generators.
The Minister added that the challenges have been identified and the FG has already devised both short term and long term solutions.
What you should know
- Recall Nairametrics reported that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) attributed the recent low cumulative power generation nationwide to several factors which include poor gas supply, fault in generating units of generating companies as well as scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.
- TCN said that 14 gas-powered generating stations were either not generating power at all or had limited generation at various times, adding that Jebba Hydro and Shiroro Power Generating stations were either out or had limited generation, causing additional loss of 232 MW from the grid.
