The Nation Newspaper

Tag: power supply

  • ‘Stable power supply is work in progress’

    ‘Stable power supply is work in progress’

    The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Ikeja Electric (IE) (formerly Ikeja Electricity Distribution (IKEDC), Engr. Abiodun Ajifowobaje, has said the country’s transition to uninterrupted power supply is work in progress.

    He expressed confidence that the advent of privatisation in the power sector will deliver the expected dividend. Ajifowobaje who spoke with The Nation, however cautioned Nigerians that they should not be unmindful of the time it will take the country to reach the desired levels of gas availability, infrastructure, human capital and financial backing, which are all critical ingredients for a complete transformation of the sector.

    According to him, so far, the best thing that has happened to the power sector is its privatisation. This is because prior to privatisation, the industry was in need of fresh investments to boost capacity and supply. Privatisation, the IE boss explained, has given the sector a boost, especially with the introduction of private sector initiative, including private funding, which he noted, is completely changing its operational framework all over the country.

    He however said the persistent problem of vandalism of electrical equipment constitutes a major challenge to timely realisation of the goal.

    Vandalism, he further said, is like a virus which is destroying the power industry in Nigeria with colossal socio-economic implication.

    “It throws communities into darkness and hit the commercial and industrial activities of the affected areas. “We should work together to stop the activities of vandals and those that specialise in energy theft and destruction of power facilities and installations,” he said.

    He recalled that one year ago when IE took over the electricity distribution under the privatisation scheme, there were 42 transformer substations out of circuit due to vandalism. To curb or reduce this incident from further occurrence, he said that his firm had to engage in public enlightenment on the effect of vandalism. This has also been further boosted by way of partnering with security agencies in Lagos State in tackling the menace, as well as being in constant touch with the community leaders and propping them to assist in securing the equipment in their domains.

  • How to improve power supply

    THE drop in power generation will continue unless the Gas Master Plan and other initiatives introduced by the Federal Government are fast-tracked, stakeholders have said.

    Speaking against the backdrop of the inability of the government to supply enough gas to power generation companies, the President, International Association of Energy Economics(IAEC), Prof Adeola Akinnisiju, said the government should implement policies to improve supply.

    He said the Escravos Gas Project could not be relied upon to provide enough gas for the power sector.

    Akinnisiju said: “There is a frequent drop in power generation, occassioned by low supply of gas to the thermal plants. Escravos does not have the capacity to provide enough gas to the power firms. Now that the government has privatised the sector and handed over the assets of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to the new investors, the government must fast-tracked the implementation of gas policies for growth of the power sector. Besides, the capacity of Escravos must be improved. Bigger volumes of gas must come from the plant.’’

    He said Escravos’inability to provide gas sufficient gas to Afam IV, Rivers Independent Power Plant, Olorunsogo Power Plant, among others, had affected electricity generation.

    He said the occassional low water level at the hydro power plants had also contributed to the problems in the sector.

  • Why power supply to Abuja dropped, by AEDC CEO

    Why power supply to Abuja dropped, by AEDC CEO

    Power supplied to Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has dropped from 400megawatts (Mw) to between 260Mw and 300Mw  causing pains to its customers.

    Its Managing Director, Mr. Neil Croucher yesterday blamed the development on a corresponding drop of between 20 and 30 per cent in power supplied to the firm from the national grid.

    He also said the load allocation of 11.5 per cent to Abuja Distribution Company (DISCo) and the penalties charged to it by the Market Operator for energy taken above this ceiling puts additional constraint on the company.

    Croucher told the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo who paid an unscheduled visit to the firm’s office in Abuja. Nebo was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Ambassador Godknows Igali and other aides.

    The minister noted with concern the drop in power supply to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and pledged to review the ceiling placed on the quantum of electricity supplied to the Abuja DISCo.

    In a statement endorsed by its spokesman, Ahmed Shekarau,  Nebo said a situation where Abuja, which is the seat of government, suffers inadequate power supply is counter-productive to the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan,  especially in terms of attracting foreign investments into the country.

    Nebo said the visit became imperative to find out from AEDC’s management what the challenges were and explore ways of tackling them.

    Croucher thanked the minister and the permanent secretary for the visit and commended them for the efforts being made to ensure the success of the President’s Transformation Agenda in the power sector.

    The AEDC boss appealed to the minister to help ensure that sufficient power is supplied to Abuja DISCo to meet the electricity needs of the FCT, considering its strategic importance.

    Croucher told the minister that AEDC is thinking out of the box as it is exploring the option of embedded power generation within its areas of coverage.

  • Firm assures Ibadan residents of 15hrs uninterrupted power supply

    Firm assures Ibadan residents of 15hrs uninterrupted power supply

    The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has assured residents of over 15 hours uninterrupted power supply when it finishes upgrading its transmission facilities.

    IBEDC Managing Director Fortunato Leynes gave the assurance at the Premier Hotel at the weekend during the maiden edition of a knowledge sharing series organised by the company, titled: “Journey to Change”.

    He said: “Generating capacity should be at 5,000 Mega Watts, but what we have when we took over was at the level of 4,000 Mega Watts and went down to 3,000 Mega Watts, but now it is hovering around 3,000 to 3,500 Mega Watts.

    “One of the greatest challenges facing the company in the last 11 months since we took over is that there is no enough power generating capacity to distribute to our customers. We also do not generate enough revenue to support our business activities.

    “We have put forward a tariff review proposal to the National Electricity Regulating Commission (NERC) because the tariff system now is not sufficient for us to recover our investment and generate the funds we need to make our service delivery efficient. For us to be efficient, there must be an upward review of tariff rates by 25 to 30 per cent to make us viable.”

    On why customers are still experiencing epileptic power supply, Leynes said: “This is primarily because of the debt and poor infrastructure we met on ground. We have dilapidated electricity facilities everywhere and this will cost a lot of money. If we do not generate enough revenue, it will be very hard to achieve this. The low generating capacity is primarily due to the vandalisation of gas pipelines and weakness in the transmission network. We cannot serve our customers if the generating capacity is low.

    “We are now buying electricity distribution materials like transformers, poles and conductors to improve our distribution capacity. We are also buying metres so that our customers will be appropriately metred. Right now we have a metre application system called the Credit Advancement Prepaid Metre Installation (CAPMI) scheme and within 45 days, metres are installed for customers.

    “We have about 1.1 million customers and are still doing customer remuneration to get the actual figure. Some are not paying but are stealing electricity. By the time we complete this remuneration, we will make them legitimate customers.

    His deputy, Mr John Darlington, said: “More efforts are being made to provide quality services. The challenges are enormous, but if we can get the right people, attitude, technology and there is discipline, in two to three years, the difference will be clear.”

    The Special Guest and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan (U.I.), Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole, said many opportunities were yet to be harnessed due to power failure.

    He said: “If I become the president of this country, I will first address the problem of electricity and other things will fall in place.”

  • ‘Don’t politicise power supply’

    ‘Don’t politicise power supply’

    A former Register of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Felix Atume, has urged delegates to the National Conference not to politicise power supply.

    Spoeaking with our reporter yesterday in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, Atume noted that power supply remained epileptic all over the country.

    The engineer said without it, devolvement and industrialisation, through which jobs would be created, cannot be accomplished.

    Atume, who is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), noted that South Africa produced 43,000 megawatts (MW) with 95 per cent sourced from coal.

    He said Nigeria had coal in abundance but was not using it well to generate power.

    According to him, Nigeria is producing only 4,000 MW of electricity, which is grossly inadequate for a nation facing escalating unemployment.

    Atume said Nigeria should convert its coal deposits to generate more power to complement the current gas-based system.

    The politician promised that if he becomes the next Benue governor, he would revolutionise commercial agriculture to tackle unemployment and create wealth.

    He said current investments in agriculture were only for consumption and not enough for export.

  • Power supply improves as govt targets 5,000 MW

    Power supply improves as govt targets 5,000 MW

    Consumers seem to have good stories to tell about power supply. They say there has been an improvement, indicating that stable power supply is achievable AKINOLA AJIBADE report.

    Six months after the new investors took over the assets of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), power supply has improved slightly in Lagos, Abuja and a few other cities across the country, The Nation investigation has revealed.

    This is coming on the heels of the Federal Government’s plan to improve power generation from 4,500 megawatts (mw) to 5000mw by end of the year.

    In Lagos, consumers in some areas under the Ikeja and Eko Electricity Distribution Companies (IKEDC) have testified that supply to their areas had improved since April. Also, some, in Arepo, Akute and other distant in Ikeja DISCO and Lekki, said the supply had improved by over five hours daily.

    Power Minister Prof Chinedu Nebo promised that the government would continue to improve its performance, adding that 5000mw generation target would be attained by December.

    He said electricity generation increased by over 40 per cent from 2,500mw in 2011 to 4,500mw this month, and that the government was committed to its mandate.

    He said: “We inherited 2,500MW and we would more than double the figure by the end of this year. That is progress. I do not know how people define progress. As population increases, we would improve electricity supply to both urban and rural areas. This administration has put everything into the power sector to make it work. People are condemning the government, instead of commending it.”

    Nebo said the sector had been neglected by successive administration, which resulted in the decay of power infrastructure, adding that the population was growing without a concomitant growth in electricity infrastructure.

    He said Nigeria needed to produce 160,000mw to level up with South Africa in power supply, noting that it would be difficult to provide that in the light of the challenges in the sector.

    “There is no basis in comparing Nigeria’s power sector with that of South Africa. For Nigeria to be at par with South Africa, we should be generating 160,000mw. If you bring all companies together and make them work 24 hours a day, they cannot give you 160,000mw. Now that the private sector, there has been an increase in interest showed in the sector. There is an influx of investment in the sector. Based on this, we would get to a level where power outrage would be a thing of the past.

    “In Awka, power is stable except for the few minutes the residents experience power outrage. That is the situation in many parts of the country. There is improvement in power generation and distribution across the country in recent times,” Nebo added.

    The Nation investigation showed that power has improved in some parts of the Lagos, including Ikotun, Egbeda, Dopemu, Iyana-Ipaja, Ikeja, Oshodi, Anthony Village and Ejigbo.

    Others are Ebute-Metta, Yaba, and Oyingbo, on Lagos Mainland.

    Also, communities, such as Magboro, Mowe, Arepo, Sango-Ota and others in the Lagos-Ogun area have witnessed improved power supply.

    In Abuja area such as Jabi, Wuse 2, Nyanyan and the Central Business Districts (CBD) have witnessed improvement in power supply. But this could not be said of Gwagwalada, Bwari, Kubwa, Karshi, Kuje, Dobi Angada and other satellite towns where there is still erratic power supply.

    The Executive Director, African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (ACMIL), Oluwole Asubiojo, said power has improved relatively in Abuja. He said businesses have also improved in some parts of Abuja, as a result of the energy supply increased.

    He said: “Stable power supply is still a far-fetched issue in Nigeria in spite of privatisation of the sector. It is obvious that power has improved relatively  in Abuja and its environs, however a lot needs to be done to develop the sector to expectation. The generation, distribution and transmission sections still have their own problems.

    A Partner at Usoro & Co, Laidi Munirideen, said improvement in power supply is not what Nigerians are looking for, noting that consumers need more than that from the government since power players a crucial role in the socio-economic development, not only of the people, but the nation as well.

    “It is evident that power has improved, but not to a level Nigerians are looking out for. In Lagos Island, where I work, many firms rely on alternative energy supply. This is because they cannot depend sole on power from the national grid. This means that the country still has a long way to go in the area of power, he added.

    The General Manager, Consumer Services, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC), Ms Olubukola Ojuronpe, said the power firms and the government were putting in place measures to improve the sector’s growth. She said the firms were not happy that consumers are not accessing power regularly, adding that they are making efforts to improve supply.

    According to her, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)and owners of the 15 powers firms are meeting regularly to find lasting solutions to the problems in the sector.

    The Ministries of Power and Petroleum Resources have formed a synergy to improve gas supply to the thermal stations to ensure constant power generation, she said.

  • Power supply improves as govt targets 5,000MW

    Power supply improves as govt targets 5,000MW

    Six months after private operators took over in the power sector, electricity consumers have testified that the power supply is improving. It is an indication that stable power supply is achievable in Nigeria. AKINOLA AJIBADE reports.

    SIX months after the new investors took over the assets of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN),  power supply has improved slightly in Lagos, Abuja and a few other cities across the country, The Nation investigation has revealed.

    This is coming on the heels of the Federal Government’s plan to improve power generation from 4,500 megawatts (mw) to 5,000mw by end of the year.

    In Lagos, consumers in some areas under the Ikeja and Eko Electricity Distribution Companies (IKEDC) have testified that supply to their areas has improved since last month. Also, some in Arepo, Akute and other distant places in Ikeja DISCO and Lekki, said the supply has improved by over five hours.

    Power Minister Prof Chinedu Nebo promised that the government would continue to improve  its performance, adding that 5000mw generation target would be attained by December.

    He said electricity generation increased by over 40 per cent from 2,500mw in 2011 to 4,500mw this month, and that the government was committed to its mandate.

    He said: “We inherited 2,500MW and we would more than double the figure by the end of this year. That is progress. I do not know how people define progress. As population increases, we would improve electricity supply to both urban and rural areas. This administration has put everything into the power sector to make it work. People are condemning the government, instead of commending it.”

    Nebo said the sector had been neglected by successive administration, which resulted in the decay of power infrastructure, adding that the population was growing without a concomitant growth in electricity infrastructure.

    He said Nigeria needed to produce 160,000mw to level up with South Africa in power supply, noting that it would be difficult to provide that in the light of the challenges in the sector.

    “There is no basis in comparing Nigeria’s power sector with that of South Africa. For Nigeria to be at par with South Africa, we should be generating 160,000MW. If you bring all companies together and make them work 24 hours a day, they cannot give you 160,000MW.  Now that the private sector has taken over the power sector, there has been an increase in interest showed in the sector. There is an influx of investment in the sector. Based on this, we would get to a level where power outage would be a thing of the past.

    “In Awka, power is stable except for the few minutes the residents experience power outage. That is the situation in many parts of the country. There is improvement in power generation and distribution across the country in recent times,” Nebo added.

    The Nation investigation showed that power has improved in some parts of the Lagos, including Ikotun, Egbeda, Dopemu, Iyana-Ipaja, Ikeja, Oshodi, Anthony Village and Ejigbo.

    Others are Ebute-Metta, Yaba, and Oyingbo on Lagos Mainland.

    Also, communities, such as Magboro, Mowe, Arepo, Sango-Ota and others in the Lagos-Ogun area have witnessed improved power supply.

    In Abuja, areas, such as Jabi, Wuse 2, Nyanyan  and the Central Business Districts(CDS) have witnessed improvement in power supply. But this could not be said of Gwagwalada, Bwari, Kubwa, karshi, Kuje, Dobi Angada and other satellite towns where there is still erratic power supply.

    The Executive Director, African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (ACMIL), Oluwole Asubiojo, said power has relatively improved in Abuja. He said businesses have also improved in some parts of Abuja, as a result of the energy supply increase.

    He said: “Stable power supply is still a far-fetched issue in Nigeria in spite of privatisation of the sector. It is obvious that power has improved relatively in Abuja and its environs, however a lot needs to be done to develop the sector to expectation. The generation, distribution and transmission sections still have their own problems.

    But a Partner at Usoro & Co, Laidi Munirudeen, said improvement in power supply  is not what Nigerians are looking for, noting that consumers need more than that from the government since power plays a crucial role in the socio-economic development, not only of the people, but the nation as well.

    “It is evident that power has improved, but not to a level Nigerians are looking out for. In Lagos Island, where I work, many firms rely on alternative energy supply. This is because they cannot depend solely on power from the national grid. This means that the country still has a long way to go in the area of power,” he added.

    The General Manager, Consumer Services, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC), Ms. Olubukola Ojuronpe, said the power firms and the government were putting in place measures to improve the sector’s growth. She said the firms were not happy that consumers were not accessing power regularly, adding that they were making efforts to improve supply.

    According to her, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and owners of the 15 power firms meet regularly to find lasting solutions to the problems in the sector.

    The Ministries of Power and Petroleum Resources have formed a synergy to improve gas supply to the thermal stations to ensure constant power generation, she said.

  • Eko DISCO seeks 400MW from embedded generation

    Eko DISCO seeks 400MW from embedded generation

    •Partners Flour Mills, Honeywell on ‘captive’ power

     

    The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) is searching for alternative power supply of about 400 megawatts (MW) to meet the demand of its customers as the supply from thwe national grid has fallen, a development which necessitated cutting the firm’s daily power need of 700MW to 250MW, thereby leading to massive load-shedding and rationing.

    EKEDC’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Oladele Amoda, told The Nation that the initiative had become imperative as the company cannot continue to rely on the power supply from the grid.

    He said with the embedded generation, a chunk of the power would be under the company’s control, which would enable EKEDC to offer its customers some stable supply and plan proper maintenance schedules when necessary.

    He said the company has advertised for submission of bids by the companies that are interested to be part of the embedded generation (generation outside the national grid) deal, adding that on expiration of the bids’submission, the management will select the successful or preferred bidders, sign Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with them, meter their generation, send it to the company’s system and to the customers.

    Amoda said the management of EKEDC is also discussing with companies that generate more than they need, such as Honeywell and Flour Mills, to buy the excess power, adding that the company has concluded such arrangement with Island Power to be buying 1.5MW from its generation at off-peak periods between 10pm and 6am, which will commence before end of the month.

    Amoda said: “We have advertised to invite the people that are willing to partner with us in the embedded generation deal. Several of them have applied. The successful bidders will put up their plants of various capacities depending on what they want to do. They will put up the plant and we will sign PPA agreement with them. We will meter their generation at the intake and send the power to our customers.

    “The main purpose of this initiative is that we will not continue to rely on the power that we get from the grid because it is not constant, it fluctuates and besides, in the past five months, we have not been able to get more than 260 MW and even sometimes less than 100MW and we have the capability of taking 700MW, which is the demand. You can see the difference between an average of 200MW and 700MW daily.’’

    He continued: “The consequence of this huge supply gap is rationing of available power and massive load-shedding, which are ongoing. They attributed the power supply gap to inadequate gas to run the power stations, arising from vandalism and sabotage, so that is where we are. Going forward, we are looking at about 400MW from embedded that will be under our control and will not be subject to grid supply. This will enable us to offer our customers a measure of stable supply. The initiative will us enable us plan maintenance of our facilities when necessary by having a regulated load-shedding programme that everybody will know, but we cannot do any reasonable load-shedding programme because of the limited supply.

    ‘’We are starting on gradually and will ramp up 400MW by mid-next year because many people are showing interest to partner with us. At the expiration of submission of applications, we will go through the bids and inform those that are successful and when we will draw the PPA we will go to NERC because it has a role to play in it.’’

  • Gas shortage cripples power supply, says NNPC

    Gas shortage cripples power supply, says NNPC

    LACK of adequate gas supply, is responsible for the poor electricity supply in the past few months, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has said.

    Its Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, Dr. David Ige, said it is a short term challenge, adding that it would ease before year end.

    Ige, who was responding to complaints and claims by the new investors in the power sector that lack of gas supply is affecing their efforts at improving supply, said their complaints were genuine. He attributed the problem to gas pipeline vandalism.

    He said: “There is truth in their complaints. Over the last two to three years, we have seen a big growth in our gas supply development. We have maximised our efforts in infrastructure; every day, we are building new pipeline infrastructure. Gas supply has grown from 500 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscf/d) three years ago to 1.5 billion standard cubic of feet per day (Bscf/d).

    “But, we are having serious short term challenge and there are two things responsible for that. One mostly arises from vandalism; so, at any point, we are repairing one pipeline or the other. Last year, Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) was down for seven months. Now ELPS is back, Trans Forcados is down. At every point, we have been experiencing one major outage or the other.”

    He continued: “And the way our system works is that the pipeline artery connects major gas supply assets. Trans Forcados is connected to Oben, Sapele and Pan Ocean assets, so when the pipeline is down, we lose the three gas plants at once. When ELPS is down, we lose Escravos, so we are truly struggling with these outages and because it happens repeatedly and there is almost no time one of them is not down. All the efforts that we have made in terms of bringing supply up, the consumers never have been able to see the full benefit of it because there is always one problem or other.”

    He also said the other dilemma is the tightness in supply. He explained that the corporation could not do the maintenance on its facilities because, this couldn’t further reduce the supply.

  • ‘Akwa Ibom setting pace for uninterrupted power supply’

    ‘Akwa Ibom setting pace for uninterrupted power supply’

    Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio is setting the pace for uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria, the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Power, Dr. Victor Udo, has said.

    Dr. Udo said: “His Excellency is implementing 5 key strategies to ensure steady power supply across the entire state within the shortest possible time. The strategies include steady gas supply; sufficient electricity generation, transmission capacity enhancements, optimal operation of distribution assets and the establishment of utility competency in the state.”

    The Senior Special Assistant, who has over 25 years experience in the United State’s power sector, explained that “although the state government started with power generation by building Ibom Power Plant, it soon discovered that steady gas supply is needed to ensure steady generation”.

    He explained further that “the administration of Governor Akapbio provided enabling resources for private sector investors to establish a gas processing plant and a gas pipeline in the state, this gas infrastructure that will supply gas not only to Ibom power plant but other independent power plants and gas users within and outside the state”.