Daily Independent (Lagos)
David Agba
9 October 2008
Abuja — Hope appears to be rising towards prospects for the realization of the Federal Government aspiration to boost the nation's power generation capacity to 4,000 mega watts (MW)by December 2008, as the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)said it recorded last week the highest peak energy generation capacity of 86,564.89 kilowatt hour (KWh)with a continuous generation output of not below 3,400MW throughout the day.
This is the highest energy generation peak in the history of the nation's electricity generation industry.
The highest level recorded in the past was 80,123.0KWh on 27th October 2006, an improvement of 6,441.89KWh with the latest output capacity.
PHCN said this record achievement was made possible through the on-going rehabilitation of existing power stations and management of water level at the nation's hydro dams.
Besides, the PHCN also attributed its feat to the improvement in the maintenance and management of the national transmission grid, and distribution networks, adding that electricity consumers nationwide also recorded the highest power consumption in one day in the history of the country during the same period.
With this development, PHCN said it has demonstrated its commitment to take the electricity industry to a higher level through its planned and sustained programme to realise the Federal Government's seven-point agenda, which accords the sector very high priority.
Determined to sustain the achievement, the company has called for the support and collaboration of stakeholders to realize the various programmes initiated by the new management committee.
"PHCN hereby appeals that we all perform our civic obligations as patriotic citizens by protecting its installations nationwide and settling electricity bills promptly", it said, adding: "These are great ways to support the growth of the industry for better service delivery."
The present administration has set an agenda to realize its strategic plan to achieve 4,000 MW capacity by December this year, 6,000MW by December 2009 and 10,000MW by December 2011.
Minister of State for Energy (Power), Hajia Balaraba Ibrahim, said part of the strategic plan includes the rehabilitation of all existing power plants in the country to boost their capacity; complete priority projects undertaken by Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)as well as those initiated under the National Independent Power Programme (NIPP)and resolve all issues relating to the quality and quantity of gas supply by the joint venture multinational oil companies.
Other components of the strategy includes reinforcement and expansion of the transmission network; rehabilitation of the power distribution network across the country as well as full optimization of the technical and commercial performance of the PHCN to enhance its performance and productivity.
The minister these initiatives are expected to boost the nation's power generation capacity to grow to about 6,040MW before the end of next year, with existing capacity expected to grow to about 2,100MW, while another 1,500MW would come as a result of the rehabilitation of PHCN facilities, 1,140MW from the NIPP projects and 1,300MW from independent power projects (IPPs)being initiated by various private sector players and state governments.
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