The Nation Newspaper

Tag: power supply

  • Firm introduces alternative power supply for manufacturing sector

    Powergas Africa Limited is set to change the fortunes of manufacturing firms throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

    Headed by Mr. Deepak Khilnani, the Company’s ‘Gas on Wheels’ service is providing firms with a real alternative to dirty and expensive diesel fuel, offering the region’s manufacturing sector a new lease of life.

    Speaking on the challenges faced by most manufacturing companies in Nigeria, Mr. Khilnani, Chief Executive Officer, Powergas Africa said that the need for the adoption of Gas to Power Solutions by manufacturers in Nigeria is inevitable, because energy costs is a major challenge faced by most manufacturing companies today.

    “This has become imperative, more so, in these tough times where organizations are concentrating on cost optimization, import substitutions and energy security, and Nigeria’s Domestic Gas Reserves tick these 3 boxes perfectly.

    “There is a gap between the end-users and gas producers (due to developing Gas Pipeline Infrastructure), which Powergas is dedicated to fill in with its novel ‘Virtual Gas Pipeline’ Solution in the form of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

    “This not only optimizes production & increases efficiency for the manufacturers, but also ensures reliability and adequate supply, especially, in today’s times when ‘Fuel Shortage’ is not uncommon.”

    Also, Mr. Khilnani noted that most companies depend on Diesel Generators for their power requirements and this comes at a very high cost coupled with its impact on environment and public health.

    He stressed that CNG/LNG remain one of the most reliable source of fuel for power generation for industries that require constant power for their production & processes, and in addition, to eradicate the above negative impacts of Diesel on Environment & Public Health, it is also cost effective and ‘Pilferage-Proof”.
    “Many companies have shut down because of expensive energy cost, but when a company adopts CNG, they save money, cost becomes low, they make more profit, pay more tax, employ more people and pay their salaries promptly.

    “It is a fact that the cost of power generation from gas is far less than half the cost of diesel-generated power, and it will provide constant power supply as well as have a positive impact on the environment.

    “This is why – Powergas Africa is -promoting clean gas energy as an alternate source of power generation, he said.

    He also applauded the recent efforts and policy implementation of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) in the Power and Energy Sector, especially the giant strides that have been taken in the Gas-to-Power Sector.

    He emphasized that the future of a resource-rich, high populous and power-deficit economy like Nigeria remains in the adoption of Domestic Natural Gas as a source of Fuel for Power Generation.

    This will decrease the pressure on the economy from Dollar-based Fuel Imports, and moreover will position Nigeria as a leader in Africa and set example for other Developing Nations to cut down its Carbon Emissions.

    Mr. Khilnani reiterated the company’s deep commitment to ethical standards and professionalism, which has brought Powergas Africa naturally into the clean and renewable energy segment.

    “The goal of Powergas is to ensure that as many industries as possible adopt CNG as a major source of power generation and ultimately drive increased production activities in the economy.

  • Power supply stable for five days at 4,143.87Mw

    Power supply stable for five days at 4,143.87Mw

    • 97.52Mw stranded in transmission

    The Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) recorded stable power supply of 4,143.87Megawatts  from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for five days.

    According to Power Statistics posted at the Ministry of Power’s website yesterday, the quantum of  power that the company sent out on December 28 remained unchanged till January 2.

    During the period under review, power generation also remained unchanged at  4,241.39Mw, while peak energygeneration remained unchanged at 4,553.2Mw.

    Meanwhile, of the 4,241.39Mw generated,  TCN was only able to evacuate 4,143.87Mw leaving 97.52Mw stranded in the network.

    The Minister of Power,Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola said TCN lacked the capacity to evacuate the total power that the generation companies (GenCos) produced to the distribution companies (DisCos).

    He said: “We intend to strengthen this part of our responsibility so that we can hold the GenCos and DisCos to their contracts with the citizens.We must play our own role of providing gas and expanding the transmission network.”

    Fashola maintained that government is budgeting to carry power from GenCos to the DisCos.

    He said: “We have identified a total of 142 projects of which  45 are at 50 per cent level of completion  and about 22 can be completed within a year.

    “The budget estimates are known and we intend to aggressively pursue completion to increase the carrying capacity from the GenCos to the DisCos.

    “From there, we must expand the carrying capacity to run ahead of the generating capacity so that in future,  there will always be capacity to carry whatever power is generated,” he stated.

  • BPE tasks FGN, EPDC on power supply

    BPE tasks FGN, EPDC on power supply

    The Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) has tasked the federal government and Electricity Power Distribution Companies to adhere strictly to the terms of agreement on privatisation in the interest of Nigerians.

    The bureau said both parties must strive to meet up its obligations as stipulated in the sales agreement during the privatisation of the power sector to enable citizens enjoy steady power supply.

    Deputy Director, Electric Power Department of the Bureau, Amaechi Aloke, stated this in Jos, the Plateau State capital, during a surveillance visit to the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED)

    Aloke said: “The surveillance visit was part of the monitoring of activities of the company and to ensure compliance with sales agreement. The exercise was the first major comprehensive monitoring we are undertaking apart from the initial surveillance done after the first six months of the transaction.

    “Our duty is to enforce and make sure that both parties fulfill their obligations. The agreement says that if they do not fulfill their obligations, we can take back the company.  On the other part, if the government refuses to do what is expected from them and frustrate them out of the business, they can return the company back to government and will get their money back and get 100 percent return as penalty.

    “But beyond that, we are more interested in making sure the electricity consumers are not disappointed in the transaction, the consumer deserves improved power supply and nothing else.

    “Both parties have motivations to make the transactions succeed.  Financial institutions are willing to support the business; all they need is the signal that the industry is viable, and money invested in it will be recovered.

    “The new owners have made specific commitment known as performance agreement. The agreement specified what they should do within the period of five years broken down into annual target for them to meet and include metering program and building platform.”

  • Sabotage, theft undermining power supply – Buhari

    Sabotage, theft undermining power supply – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that sabotage and theft of gas were undermining the efforts of the government to increase power supply in the country.

    He made the remark during question and answer interaction with the Nigerian community in Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

    To check the trend, he said that existing Military Task-Forces will be reorganized to ensure successful protection of the network of gas pipelines in the country.

    Buhari, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, noted that sabotage of pipeline installations continues to be a problem despite improvement in power in the recent period.

    According to him, Nigeria has everything it takes to generate enough power.

    “Power is a running battle because the saboteurs are still there. We have the potential. We have gas, we have qualified people but we are contending with a lot of saboteurs who go and blow up installations. When gas is pumped to Egbin and such other power stations, thieves and saboteurs such as the militants cut those supplies,” he said.

    He also cited another factor as the reduced role of the government in the sector due to the privatization of the institutions under the Power Handling Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in the process of which, he said, the facilities “have been sold to a number of interest groups.”

    He assured that the Military task-forces with representation from the Army, Navy, Air Force, the Police and the secret services will be reconstituted to secure the pipelines.

    “Supplies will become steady; there will be less sabotage as we secure the pipelines.”

    The President also updated the Nigerians in Tehran on the efforts of his administration towards ending the Boko Haram terrorism in the country, explaining that a lot had been achieved following the reorganization of the military top command, followed by increased equipment supply and training.

    In response to a question on the need to improve healthcare delivery, President Buhari said that efforts had been intensified towards ridding the country of fake drugs and fake doctors, and also what he called “the disgraceful aspects” manifested by ” baby factories.”

    He listed several steps being taken towards the revival of education from primary school level to university.

    On creation of jobs, he placed the prevailing joblessness in the country at the door-step of the last administration which he blamed for giving “a devastating blow to the economy through corruption and incompetence.”

    The President said that something urgent will be done about the bad condition of roads, citing the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as one to be addressed from next week by the Minister, Works, Power and Housing Babatunde Fashola who sat next to him at the meeting.

    Speaking on the issue of corruption, one of the three issues he identified as the priorities of his administration, President Buhari said that the necessity for compliance with due process of the law was responsible for the delay in the prosecution of the looters of the country’s economy but that the “the day of reckoning is gradually coming.”

    He also revealed that a number of past officials had begun the voluntary return of stolen funds but expressed the view that his government was not satisfied with tokens.

    “We want to have everything back-all that they took by force in 16 years,” the President concluded.

  • Nnaji blames regulatory agencies for poor power supply

    Nnaji blames regulatory agencies for poor power supply

    A former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, has blamed perennial power supply in the country on inability of regulatory agencies to discharge their duties effectively.

    The former minister stated while speaking at a session of Senate Ad hoc Committee on Power investing activities in the power sector on Wednesday in Abuja.

    He regretted that in spite of huge investment in the sector over the years, Nigerians were yet to enjoy adequate power supply.

    He said that about half of the power being generated was not getting to the consumers as a result of poor transmission.

    “Out of the amount of power that is distributed to transmission companies, only about 50 percent of it gets to the consumers; it is an incredible inefficiency in the power system that must be cured,’’ he said.

    In his remarks, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who was represented by his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, said that epileptic power supply witnessed in the country over the years was a major challenge.

    “You don’t have to be an economist to observe that if we do not improve on the availability and accessibility of adequate power to drive the economy, our developmental aspirations will continue to emaciate,” he said.

    Saraki explained that it was in recognition of the pivotal role played by the power sector in aiding development that the senate decided to place enormous emphasis on the improvement of the sector.

    He explained that the reason for the probe was because there was a cleavage between the public investment that had been made in the power sector and the returns Nigerians saw in the sector between 1999 and 2014.

    He said: “The essence of this investigation is to see how best to revitalize the sector to make it more efficient and transparency-driven.

    “It is hard to put in words, the level of frustration Nigerians have had to face with power, the impact of this on the wider economy and the level of inefficiency in the entire energy value chain.

    “We have an opportunity now to right the wrongs of the past. It starts from our doing a thorough job of this assignment.

    “ It is my belief that the committee’s work and final recommendation will be an invaluable tool towards providing the sector the right remedy we need to move it forward.

    “Our goal here is not to witch-hunt; it is essentially a diagnostic review with the aim of repositioning the power sector to perform its role as a major primer of development.
    “This administration has made the delivery of power and the revamping of the economy some of its cardinal objectives.”

    Saraki said that vibrant power sector driven by efficiency and innovation, would impact positively on the Nigeria textile industry, rice mills, the manufacturing start-ups, assembly plants, manufacturing, and other businesses.

  • Irregular power supply to Ajara and Badagry

    SIR: We wish to bring to your attention our plight as consumers hoping that you will use your good office to bring that change that we hear about concerning regular and constant power supply to Lagos particularly Lagos Island, Mainland and Lagos Central.

    We in Badagry community are really suffering when it comes power supply. Imagine running our businesses and homes on power generating sets for months, without a flash of power.

    In Seme and Kweme, these communities have never had power-supply even at the gateway of Nigeria to West Africa which is hub of trade and human movement.  The banks, the Customs, and other security agencies are in perpetual darkness in Seme. They run their operations on generators. The businesses around there run on generators.

    You only need a trip to Badagry, Seme, Kweme and Ajara to appreciate the problem we are facing. In Ibereko, Aradagun and Mowo and Ikoga the presence of a Hotel and Army Barracks guarantees them regular power supply. If they could enjoy regular and constant power supply, why then are we made to suffer?

    The Catholic Church, St Andrews Catholic Church in Kweme has never seen or experience power supply for once; the Holy Family Catholic Church Ajara is tired of running on power generating set and inverters. Nigeria – French Language Village and ASCON are counting their losses in terms of the running cost of diesel.

    In spite of all these set-backs, more businesses are springing up in Badagry, insurance companies and brokers, confectionary stores and companies are springing up and you know that they are revenue base for the electricity distribution companies only if they are supplied power.

    Meanwhile as law – abiding citizens and consumers, we pay our bills promptly and those of us with pre-paid meters ensure that we recharge regularly with the hope that power supply will improve but instead of it getting better, it worsens every day.

    We are calling on the Lagos State Government and Eko Electricity Distribution Company because as we are writing this letter, there has been no power supply for weeks.

     

    • Rev. Fr. Leo Garber & Ben Sedonu

    Badagry, Lagos State

  • Why power supply improved under Buhari, by Nebo

    Why power supply improved under Buhari, by Nebo

    Former Power Minister Prof. Chinedu Nebo has attributed the nation’s improved power supply to efforts of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He argued that it would be wrong for Nigerians to attribute the improvement in power supply to President Muhammadu Buhari’s body language and his anti-corruption stance.

    The former minister, who served as the pioneer vice chancellor of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) before he was appointed minister, said Jonathan did his best to transform the power sector, but was frustrated by saboteurs.

    Nebo spoke in Ikole Ekiti on Saturday, where he was conferred with an honorary chieftaincy title of the Atayese of Egbeoba kingdom by the Elekole, Oba Ajibade Adewumi Fasiku.

    The traditional ruler also honoured the ex-minister’s wife, Felicia, with the title of Yeye Atayese of Egbeoba kingdom.

    They were honoured for their contributions to the establishment of the FUOYE’s Faculty of Engineering in Ikole town during Nebo’s tenure.

    Nebo said:  “Some said it was Buhari’s body language that brought the improvement, but I didn’t know what they meant. You can see that these saboteurs have stopped regular bursting of the gas pipes that powered the electricity since President Buhari came on board. Some people did not want Jonathan to succeed.

    “Some of these people were doing this great disservice because they did not like President Jonathan. The regular supply is Jonathan’s

    labour. The present administration has not added any value to the sector and Nigerians must appreciate this.

    “President Buhari will do wonders if he strengthens embedded generation and built more infrastructure for transmission of power.

    “He should also change the threshold for licensing from one megawatt to five megawatts because the former has no incentive for investors and I believe Nigeria will leapfrog from 4,000 megawatts to something more appreciable, if this is done.”

    On the perceived marginalisation of the Southeast from key appointments made so far, Nebo appealed to the people of the zone to be patient with the President.

    He noted that the lopsidedness would be corrected in the next appointments.

    The Elekole said the conferment of the titles on Nebo and his wife was in acknowledgement of their contributions to the university and the town’s development.

  • Power supply dips by 388.83Mw

    Power supply dips by 388.83Mw

    • TCN evacuates 3,619.70Mw

    Power supply that was 4,008.53megawatts (Mw) last Sunday dipped to 3,619.70Mw on Tuesday,  the Power Statistics of the Federal Ministry of Power has shown.

    Of the   3,704.73Mw, which the Electricity Generation Companies (GENCOs ) produced, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) could not evacuate 85.03Mw, the statistics showed yesterday on the ministry’s website.

    The ministry also noted that peak generation was 4,307.4Mw. The peak generation of last Sunday was 4,405.3Mw, indicating a drop of 97.9Mw.

    The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) had maintained an average of 4,006Mw in 10 days before the dip in supply.

    Energy generated that was 4,099.72Mw on September 16 dipped negligibly to  4,098.31Mw on Sunday, indicating a relatively steady average power generation in the electricity market in 10 days.

    The market however dropped from the 4,735Mw peak energy generation of September 16 to 4,405.3Mw last Sunday, resulting in a gap of 329.7Mw.

    In NESI, the highest power power generated is still the  4,810.7 Mw of August 25.

    The Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, explained to The Nation that there was a fire at the Kainji Hydro Power Plant last week, accounting for lower power supply.

    Our correspondent could not reach him on phone yesterday to confirm  whether the plant had been repaired.

    The chairman promised that the Calabar Power Plant would soon come on stream to raise the power generation profile of the market.

  • ‘Erratic power supply costs Nigeria $100b yearly’

    Five minutes into Frank Edozie’s presentation on the challenges facing Nigeria’s power industry, the electricity cut out in the Jasmine Hall at the upmarket Eko Hotel in Lagos.

    “Very timely,” Edozie, a former power ministry adviser and a senior consultant to the U.K.-funded Nigerian Infrastructure Advisory Facility, said over the low muttering and laughter of an audience of more than 100 people. “We probably ran out of gas.”

    There’s no end in sight to the daily blackouts that the government says are costing Africa’s largest economy about $100 billion a year in missed potential and that President Muhammadu Buhari calls a “national shame.” Gas shortages, pipeline vandalism, inadequate funding, unprofitable prices and corruption mean fixing the electricity cuts two years after a partial sale of state power companies to private investors won’t be easy.

    Generated output has never risen above 5,000 megawatts (Mw), which is about a third of peak demand, and if it did the state-owned transmission system can’t deliver any more than that before it starts breaking down. South Africa, with a less than a third of Nigeria’s population of about 180 million, has nine times more installed capacity and it too is grappling with blackouts.

    Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, ranked the worst of 189 countries after Bangladesh and Madagascar on the ease of getting electricity connected to businesses, costing almost seven per cent of lost sales each month, according to a 2015 World Bank Doing Business report.

    The power bottleneck comes on top of slump in oil prices and currency that are threatening Nigeria’s role as a destination for investors. Economic growth slowed to 2.4 percent on an annual basis in the second quarter from 6.5 percent a year earlier.

    About two-thirds of Nigeria’s people have no access to electricity, and at the current plant commissioning rate, supply will barely meet 9,500 megawatts by 2020, according to a 2014 World Bank project document. Demand is expected to increase 10 percent each year. Buhari’s party promised before he won power in March’s election to generate 40,000 megawatts within four to eight years.

    For years the industry’s poor performance has spawned jokes about the former state electricity company’s name. Nigerians called the National Electric Power Authority “Never Expect Power Always,” and when its name was changed to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria a decade ago, they mocked it as the “Problem Has Changed Name.”

    Hopes that the power situation would improve after former President Goodluck Jonathan partially sold off 15 state generation and distribution companies for more than $3 billion to private investors two years ago have been dashed.

    The buyers included locally owned companies such as Forte Oil Plc, Sahara Group and Transnational Corp. of Nigeria Plc, along with foreign technical partners such as Korea Electric Power Corp.

    They found the companies they bought weren’t financially viable, and the distribution firms mounted with debt started hemorrhaging cash. Last year, “the financial flows in the sector came close to collapse,” the U.K.’s Department for International Development said in a December 2014 report.

    “There wasn’t much due diligence done” because strikes during the sale period blocked access to the utilities, said Dolapo Kukoyi, a partner at Lagos-based Detail Commercial Solicitors, which advised investors looking to buy the distribution companies. “People basically bought blind — this was across the board.”

    Nigeria’s central bank designed a 213 billion-naira ($1.1 billion) bailout package to cover revenue shortfalls and help the companies meet debt-service obligations on bank loans of almost 500 billion naira.

    The power industry still requires as much as $20 billion of investment in the next six years, according to Benjamin Dikki, the director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, which led the sales.

    Even after the sales, bribery of electricity workers by some diesel generator and fuel suppliers to organize household and business blackouts in order to boost sales is continuing. Diesel generation costs 30 cents to 50 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with the average grid tariff of 13 cents, according to the World Bank. Timothy Oyedeji, a spokesman for the Power Ministry, didn’t answer two calls and a text message seeking comment.

    “Criminality is still there,” said Bokar Toure, a senior energy economist in Abuja, the capital, for the African Development Bank, which has lent and provided guarantees to Nigeria’s power industry. “Just because it has been handed to a private company doesn’t mean it’s going to end.”

    A Senate committee started investigating corruption in the power industry on Sept. 8. Its hearings were disrupted on Wednesday by a series of electricity cuts in the chamber.

    The generation companies have battled with chronic gas shortages used by 70 percent of the plants, despite Nigeria holding Africa’s biggest reserves of more than 180 trillion cubic feet. From December to June, rampant pipeline attacks reached levels last recorded at the peak of a 2006 to 2009 militant insurgency in the oil producing Niger River. They’ve slowed since then.

    Government-set tariffs have also hampered the distribution companies. Just before the elections, the regulator banned them from charging consumers for losses caused by billing mistakes, effectively cutting the tariff by more than half in some areas. This caused most of the distribution utilities to declare force majeure, claiming they couldn’t pay for their power supply.

    Up the chain, generating companies say they haven’t received payments from the state-owned Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, which acts as a middle man between them and the distribution companies.

    And because the distribution utilities haven’t paid about 20 billion naira owed since February, payments to the power plants have slowed, said Rumundaka Wonodi, chief executive officer of NBET in Abuja.

     

  • ‘Why power supply is still erratic’

    ‘Why power supply is still erratic’

    Power supply is yet to stabilise because of the huge debts owed gas producers and suppliers by the owners of turbines, decline in the production of gas, and  poor distribution channels, the Chief Executive Officer, Frontier Oil Limited, Thomas Dada, has said.

    He said at a forum that power firms were owing gas producers and suppliers huge debts, adding that the problem made it difficult for power generation companies (GENCOs) to access gas for production.

    He said gas is still a major problem in the industry, in despite the relative improvement in power generation and supply in the country.

    Dada cited poor gas distribution channels and low production as some of the problems in the industry.

    He said: “If you ask the gas producers and suppliers how much they are being owed by owners of gas powered plants, they would tell you that it. is a lot of money. Given this, one would realise that gas problems cut across stakeholders in the value chain. By this the problem is from producers to suppliers to the power plants that could not access the product for production due to pipelines vandalism and other infrastructural problems.”

    Also, the Chief Executive Officer, Egbin Power Plant, Mr Dallas M. Peavey, said gas remained a major problem in the sector, in spite of the relative improvement in power generation and supply in the country recently.

    He said Egbin plant has not been able to meet the required capacity because of gas, despite that it increased its electricity generation from 300 megawatts to 500 megawatts (Mw).

    He said: “People are saying that gas supply to the turbines has improved, ditto electricity generation, but nobody has been able to tell Nigerians the volumes or extent to which gas suppliers have supplied the product to the power plants. Egbin plant has an installed capacity of over 1,000(Mw. The plant has gone through rehabilitation in order to produce optimally. Despite this, the plant is yet to meet its capacity. We need to prioritise the issue of gas to power in this country for the growth of the industry.””

    A Director of Sahara Energy Group, owner of Egbin Power Plant and Ikeja Electric (IE,), James Ogungbemi, said IE, which has the capacity to distribute over 1000Mw of electricity, is distributing less than 500 Mw due to gas.

    He said stable electricity supply would be a mirage, until power generation companies improve generation in the country.

    He urged investors to invest in gas production and supply in order to meet the required needs of the turbines in Nigeria and further help in improving power supply.

    Ogungbemi said when there are many gas investors in the sector, the issue of debt owed gas supply is going to reduced.