The Nation Newspaper

Tag: POWER

  • ‘Increased gas supply boosts output from Egbin Power’

    ‘Increased gas supply boosts output from Egbin Power’

    Improved gas supply to power stations has helped to substantially increase the power generation from Nigeria’s biggest power station, Egbin Plc, it was learnt.

    The Chief Executive Officer, Egbin Power Plc., Mr. Dallas Peavey told The Nation that the impressive electricity supply being experienced by consumers, especially in Lagos State and other surrounding states, is due to increased gas supply and huge investment in new and upgrade of power infrastructure by the owners of the company, Sahara Power Group and the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

    Peavey said Egbin generates and supplies over 1,100 megawatts (Mw) of electricity to the national grid and hopes to reach plant’s installed capacity of 1,320Mw or a little below it. He assured that if gas supply is sustained, the output from the power plant would not only be sustained, but well exceeded.

    He said the 1,100Mw generation was attained last month and the company is gradually exceeding it, adding that in no distant time, the company will be generating the plant’s 1320Mw installed capacity and that will be good news for electricity consumers.

    “We want to help the government to achieve its aspiration of providing stable power supply to Nigerians,” he said, adding that Egbin was generating below 500Mw when the private sector investors took over in November 2013.

    Peavey said after the current owners acquired Egbin, they commenced upgrade and replacement of obsolete and dysfunctional equipment and materials. “We have injected about N50 billion into Egbin post-privatisation. We have brought unprecedented innovation, professionalism, human capital development and new technology into the power plant,” he said.

    He continued: “For instance, the control panels installed when the plant was built has been removed and upgraded to state-of-the-art digital panels. The main rehabilitation occurred in the first quarter of 2015, when the company successfully rehabilitated the plant’s unit six steam turbine (ST06), which added 220Mw to the plant.

    “We also restored the capacity of some of the units that were working below capacity and other ancillary equipment and materials. I assure you with these developments, Egbin Power Plc is now equipped to generate power at its installed 1,320Mw capacity.

    “Remember that the management is working on further expansion of the plant to achieve its vision of attaining 2,670Mw by 2017 and total capacity of over 10,000Mw in the next decade, if the demand permits.”

  • Power outage hits Kogi

    Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, for the third day is experiencing power outage.

    The town is in darkness.

    Its effect is taking a toll on business activities and social life.

    Mostly affected are business operators, who rely on electricity.

    This is happening when Nigerians are beginning to heave a sigh of relief, following improvement in power supply.

    The outage is compounded by the torrential rains experienced in the last three days.

    A resident, Kola Abioye, expressed disgust at the development.

    Investigation showed that the blackout might not be unconnected with a faulty injection sub-station in Ajaokuta.

    Spokesman for AEDC Lokoja station, Mr. Mufutau Ogegbo, said their engineers were working to rectify the fault.

    He said the rains compounded the problem.

    Ogegbo solicited the understanding of residents.

     

     

  • ‘POWER OF TOMORROW’ PREMIERES IN ABUJA

    ‘POWER OF TOMORROW’ PREMIERES IN ABUJA

    THE Ladi Kwali Hall of Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, will play host to top dignitaries, this Saturday, as foremost entertainer and philanthropist, Jolly Abani, premieres his new flick, Power of Tomorrow.

    Abani said the ceremony will score high on two points; the content of the movie and the high profile guests which will include top politicians, captains of industry and the film’s star-studded cast.

    The producer who doubles as a cast member in the film, starring as Mrs. Allen, said all necessary arrangements have been put in place to make the film premiere a night of classy entertainment.

    Expected at the premiere are cast of the movie such as Oge Okoye, I.K Ogbonna, Yakubu Mohammed and Jibola Dabo who will also rock the red carpet at the show.

    Others, according to Abani, are political bigwigs such as the former governor of Ebonyi state, Senator Sam Egwu, All Progressives Congress chieftain and former governor of Abia state, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu as well as investors like Chisco Transport boss, Chief Chidi Anyiegbu and Dr Donald  Peterson.

    “We have dotted the ‘Is’ and crossed the ‘Ts’ towards making our film premiere one that guests and movie lovers will remember for its class and glamour,” she said.

    Abani revealed that the film which is her first as a producer, was made to remind mothers of their role in the home and the society at large.

    She said: “Power of Tomorrow which I also love to call Mirror In The Sun is an eye opener. It is a story of what some women in politics have to do in order to succeed. Yes, I believe in gender equality but I also believe that a woman should first be a woman. Women should never neglect their role in the family and society, just because they want to make it in life or politics. I don’t think that a woman should go all the way like, Mrs. Allen, the main character in my movie did.

    “The lead character in my movie killed her husband, killed her daughter and sadly, she still didn’t become a senator. This woman (Mrs. Allen) had to get her husband out of the way after she started having using sex as a tool to further her political career. Of course, her husband who discovered she had become unfaithful wouldn’t take her infidelity, so he had to be eliminated. Even with all her desperate actions, she died without her dream of becoming a senator coming to reality.”

  • ‘Ibom Power has produced 70 days non-stop’

    ‘Ibom Power has produced 70 days non-stop’

    The Managing Director of Ibom Power Company (IPC), Dr. Victor Udo, has disclosed that the company has been producing for 70 days without downtime.

    The MD spoke with reporters in his office.

    He said: “Ibom power plant has been producing for 70 days without downtime; if the distribution infrastructure in your community is not vandalised, you will have witnessed improved power supply in the last 2 months because Ibom Power has been producing constantly.

    “It is to the credit of Akwa Ibom State that the plant is being operated and maintained daily by our indigenes who have kept the plant running for the last 70 days and counting. We are proud of our accomplishment because in the past the plant was constantly on outage which amounts to revenue loss and insufficient power supply in the State.

    “The installation of a dead bus closure in Ibom Power unit 3 has increased our availability such that Akwa Ibom State becomes an island of power supply when the national grid is down.  The rehabilitation of the Black Start Generator (BSG-1) at unit 2 has saved us N5million monthly and also enabled us to offer ancillary services in Nigeria’s Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).”

    While addressing the prolonged power outage in Ikot Abasi, the MD disclosed that “an approval has been given by IPC Board of Directors to support the restoration of power supply to Ikot Abasi as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)”.

    He added that: “We are collaborating with Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC)  to restore power to the community within a few weeks from now.”

  • Power company: they ’re owing N132m

    Power company: they ’re owing N132m

    THE Chief State Head of Benin Distribution Company (BEDC), Ondo and Ekiti,   Ernest Edgar, said yesterday that Aramoko and Erio in Ekiti West Local Government Area of Ekiti State owed N132 million in electricity bills.

    He added that the communities incurred N74 million since BEDC took over.

    A statement by Edgar reads: “As a company at the end of the value chain of the power business, BEDC is expected to pay fully for the energy it receives from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and to remain in business, every community or community is expected to pay fully for every kilowatts of energy that is consumed.

    “We are constraint by the fact that what is given to BEDC as allocation from the National Grid for the four states of coverage is just nine per cent of total generation in the country, which is grossly inadequate.

    “In spite of all these facts, we still have customers or communities that have refused to pay their electricity bills.

    “Aramoko-Ekiti in Ekiti State for instance, is a good example of communities that have refused to pay electricity bills.

    “The community, before privatisation, was owing the sum of N58,109,657.54 and since privatisation, on November 1, 2013, it has further accumulated the sum of N74,080,944.47k bringing the total indebtedness to N132,190,602.01, which they have refused to pay despite series of meetings between them and BEDC officials.

    “With the present situation, the only option for BEDC was to withdraw services, if we must remain in business.”

  • Power of Tomorrow premieres in Abuja

    Power of Tomorrow premieres in Abuja

    The Ladi Kwali Hall of Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, will play host to top dignitaries, this Saturday, as foremost entertainer and philanthropist, Jolly Abani, premieres her new flick, Power of Tomorrow.

    Abani said the ceremony will score high on two points; the content of the movie and the high profile guests which will include top politicians, captains of industry and the film’s star-studded cast.

    The producer who doubles as a cast in the film, starring as Mrs. Allen, said all necessary arrangements have been put in place to make the premiere a night of classy entertainment.

    Expected at the premiere are casts of the movie such as Oge Okoye, I.K Ogbonna, Yakubu Mohammed and Jibola Dabo who will also rock the red carpet at the show.

    Others, according to Abani, are political bigwigs such as the former governor of Ebonyi state, Senator Sam Egwu, All Progressives Congress chieftain and former governor of Abia state, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu as well as investors like Chisco Transport boss, Chief Chidi Anyiegbu and Dr Donald  Peterson.

    “We have dotted the I’s and crossed the I’s towards making our film premiere one that guests and movie lovers will remember for its class and glamour,” she said.

    Abani revealed that the film which is her first as a producer, was made to remind mothers of their role in the home and the society at large.

    She said: “Power of Tomorrow which I also love to call Mirror In The Sun is an eye opener. It is a story of what some women in politics have to do in order to succeed. Yes, I believe in gender equality but I also believe that a woman should first be a woman. Women should never neglect their role in the family and society, just because they want to make it in life or politics. I don’t think that a woman should go all the way like, Mrs. Allen, the main character in my movie did.

    “The lead character in my movie killed her husband, killed her daughter and sadly, she still didn’t become a senator. This woman (Mrs. Allen) had to get her husband out of the way after she started having using sex as a tool to further her political career. Of course, her husband who discovered she had become unfaithful wouldn’t take her infidelity, so he had to be eliminated. Even with all her desperate actions, she died without her dream of becoming a senator coming to reality.”

  • Fed Govt: Power generation hits 4,600 Mw

    The Federal Government yesterday said its power generation has improved to 4,600 megawatts (Mw) from about 3,000Mw.

    The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali briefed State House correspondents after presenting activities of the ministry to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He said: “We are doing over 4600Mw of power on the grid and we can do better. But then this is a big improvement from about 3,000 Mw.

    “Other times when we attain 4,000Mw, because of pipeline disruptions we go down to about 2000Mw. We’ve consistently in the past two months been over 4,500Mw, now reaching close to 4,700Mw.”

    But he noted that distribution of power has remained a great challenge in the country.

    He said: “Distribution remains a challenge because that’s where customers feel it most. We are working with a lot of the Discos very closely, tracking them, to make sure that what is needed at the distribution level is done.

  • Power firm conducts enumeration ahead of pre-paid meter

    Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) will install pre-paid meters in its customers’ homes in the Southeast at the end of the ongoing Geographical Information System (GIS) enumeration.

    Mr Tope Borishade, EEDC Deputy Managing Director, made the announcement in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, during EEDC customers consultative forum.

    He said the enumeration would help the company to ascertain specific locations for the pre-paid meters.

    “The reason the pre-paid meters are not yet installed is because we are looking at the past pre-paid metering.

    “We are doing studies and analysis so that we install the pre-paid meters in a manner that is much better than the past pre-paid metering.

    “What we are doing now is the GIS-based studies, which will capture all the buildings in the licensed areas,’’ he said.

    Borishade said the company was making conscious efforts to avoid some of the pitfalls that undermined past pre-paid metering in some parts of the country.

    “We are making sure that we do something better than what was done in the past to enable use monitor the facility and ensure that we are not easily bypassed,” he said.

    He said that at the end of enumeration, the company would roll out the smart and non-smart meters for its non-Maximum Demand (MD) customers.

    Borishade said the pre-paid meters are currently undergoing testing and certification, preparatory to their installation.

    He said that plans were underway to phase out bulk-billing inherited by EEDC.

    “Our plan is to make sure that all our customers are given their personal meters,’’ he said.

    Electricity consumers at the forum took turns to enumerate their problems, ranging from estimated billing to delay in the company’s response to complaints.

    They decried indiscriminate billing of customers even when there was no supply due to major faults or disconnection.

    Borishade assured them that their complaints would be looked into, saying the company was determined to ensure improved service delivery.

     

  • Zambian copper mines to face power cuts

    Mining and energy group Vedanta Resources Plc (VED.L) said power supply at its copper mines in Zambia would be cut by up to 30 percent.

    Vedanta said it was in talks with power supplier Copper Belt Energy Corp Plc and the Zambian government over the timing and magnitude of the power cut.

    The company also said core profit at its Zambian copper mines fell 78 percent.

    Power cuts in north-western Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, have affected production at mines run by Canada’s First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) and Barrick Gold (ABX.TO), an industry body has said.

  • Power transmission peaks at 4662Mw

    Power transmission peaks at 4662Mw

    The Management of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) yesterday announced  that the National Grid Transmission has recorded another peak of 4662megawatt (Mw) of electricity.

    Its General Manager, Public Affairs, Seun Olagunju, in a statement, said the new peak was attained at 08.00pm on Tuesday.

    The statement recalled that TCN management had announced the attainment of the previous peak transmission of 4656Mw on 15th July this year.

    Power generation and transmission have been recording new peaks above 4500Mw following improvements in gas supply to the generating stations as well as equipment/infra-structure upgrade and enhanced human capacity of system operators.

    TCN assures that it would continue to work at enhancing the capacity to transmit more power to the electricity distribution companies.