Ejiofor Alike
17 November 2008
Lagos — Barely a few weeks after the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) celebrated an improved power generation, electricity consumers across the country will face hard times due to prolonged epileptic power supply, occasioned by a drop in power generation and the current nationwide load shedding.
PHCN said last month that it had recorded the highest peak energy generation of 86,564.89 megawatts per hour with a continuous generation output of not below 3,400mw throughout a whole day.
"This is the highest energy generation peak in the history of the electricity industry in Nigeria. The highest level recorded in the past was 80,123.0 megawatts per hour (MWH) on 27th October 2006 (an improvement of 6,441.89MWH)," PHCN said in a statement.
The organisation said the achievement was made possible through the on going rehabilitation of existing power stations and management of water at the nation's hydro dams.
It also said due to these efforts, coupled with the improvement in the maintenance and management of the national transmission grid and distribution network, electricity consumers nationwide recorded the highest power consumption in one day in the history of the country.
However, with the current nationwide load shedding, consumers are experiencing tough times as generation has dropped by 800 megwatts.
Explaining the drop in power generation, the management of PHCN said in a statement weekend that the recent increase in load shedding nationwide was due to the disruption of gas supply to Egbin and Sapele power stations.
"As a result of this gas supply limitation, we are losing about 800 mw generation capacity from the national grid as Sapele Power Station is completely shut down while Egbin is running at reduced capacity," the statement said.
The statement, which did not give any time frame for the possible restoration of normal gas supply, said the organisation, will continue with the current rotational rationing of power supply."Consequently, we have no alternative than to adhere strictly to the nationwide 12-hourly zonal power rotational rationing to maintain system stability and ensure even distribution of the limited generation output from the functioning plants," the statement added.PHCN also appealed to its customers, "other stakeholders and especially the press for understanding and continued support as the current situation is due to factors beyond our control."We promise to keep you informed of further developments and assure that as soon as the gas supply is fully restored which we hope will be very soon the power supply situation will improve," the statement said. Before the current drop in electricity generation, the country's power output level was being expected to hit 4,000 megawatts by the end of the year, from a generating capacity, which hovers between 3,200MW and 3,400MW.This projection came as the $1.3 billion Afam VI power plant being constructed by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and it joint venture partners was set to hit a capacity of 450 megawatts (MW) by December 31, 2008.However, with the current drop in generation, the country is currently generating about 2400mw.
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The approach to the power generation problem in Nigerian is not acceptable. something drastical is urgently required to solve the problem. I think we need a survey team to analyse the problem and find a lasting solution.