Chika Amanze-Nwachuku
14 May 2008
Lagos — The current nationwide blackout may worsen as funding continues to be the major albatross to the maintenance of the existing electricity infrastructure in the country.
THISDAY learnt that the Federal Government has not released funds for any repair work on the existing power plants. This has left the infrastructure in a state of near collapse.
Added to this is the fact that the water treatment plant at the 1,350mw Egbin Power Station is in a bad state, a development which has hampered electricity production from the plant thereby causing power generation to the national grid to drop to 860mw. Besides, inadequate gas supply to power the turbines is also said to be one of the factors responsible for the consistent decline in power generation in Nigeria. Sources at the Ministry of Power revealed yesterday that the existing power plants, built over 15 years ago, are aging and have been functioning far below their installed capacity. The sources noted that most of the power plants built by former President Olusegun Obasanjo government are yet to come on stream, owing to lack of gas to power the turbines.
Given this scenario, experts maintain that generation of 6,000mw by next year will remain a mirage since power supply to the nation will continue to depend on the existing infrastructure for at least the next two to three years.
According to the sources, for government to achieve the 6,000mw, these existing infrastructure, which remain the sources of electricity production, must be repaired. Efforts should also be geared towards the completion of the power plants being built in conjunction with the international oil companies, they said. "Prior to 1999, Nigeria had seven power stations - the newest one was the 15-year-old Shiroro Power Station.
What this meant was that for a period of 15 years, Nigeria had not built a single new power station. And since most of these commissioned power plants are not on stream yet due to lack of gas, power supply to the nation will continue to depend on the existing infrastructure for at least the next two to three years. "As we all know, electricity production can only come from power stations," a source said.
To ensure unprecedented improvement both in supply quality and quantity, enough to convince Nigerians that the long-running power crisis has been solved, authorities at the Power Holding Company Nigeria (PHCN) had recommended that the power plants jointly built with the international oil firms be fast-tracked and all obstacles to their implementation be immediately removed.
It was learnt that an accelerated completion of the joint venture (JV) projects were recommended.
Other recommendations include:
-ability to source their gas and these plants will not suffer outages due to disruption of gas
-they are professionally managed and operated using international O&M contractors
-they are 100 per cent privately owned, managed and operated, with minimal interference or control from government agencies like Ministry, Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
It was also recommended that for effective evacuation and distribution of power, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) should review the contracts for seven transmission line projects awarded in 2000 and submit recommendations on actions that need to be taken to ensure completion and commissioning of the lines before or by December 2008. Specifically, the Benin-Onitsha line was to be given priority attention because it is needed to ensure security and stability of the national grid.
Also, the TCN was directed that transmission lines that will evacuate power from NIPP plants should be given priority to ensure they are completed on time and be ready for evacuating power from the stations and that the NIPP distribution component should be completed and commissioned by December 2008 ready for the increased bulk power from the NIPP and JV IPP plants.
Towards this end, the TCN has commenced the construction of the said transmission lines as well as associated substations to ensure effective evacuation and distribution of power that would be generated from the IPPs and NIPPs.
The Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Ifabiyi Dave, confirmed that the TCN is currently constructing the Second Benin - Onitsha 330kv Single Circuit Line, Akure - Ado Ekiti 132kv Single Circuit Line, Alaoji - Umuahia 132kv Double Circuit Line, Umuahia - Mbalano 132kv Double Circuit Line, Mbalano - Okigwe 132kv Double Circuit Line, Umuahia - Ohafia 132kv Single Circuit Line. And the Ohafia - Arochukwu 132kv Single Circuit Line.
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