Latest documents obtained from Nigeria’s power System Operator indicated that peak electricity generation crossed the 5,000-megawatt mark last week.
According to the SO, a peak power generation of 5,090MW was recorded on April 26, 2018, which was the highest quantum of electricity ever witnessed on the national grid since the beginning of this year.
An analysis of the documents obtained in Abuja on Friday showed that power generation started moving up gradually from the 2,298.9MW that was recorded on April 20, 2018 and peaked at 5,090MW on April 26, 2018.
It was also gathered that the average power sent out on April 26 was 4,326MWh/hour, up by 246.86MWh/h from the previous day’s figures.
The SO, however, stated that despite hitting the peak generation for the year thus far, over 2,500MW of electricity was not generated as a result various constraints in the sector.
It outlined the major constraints in the sector as unavailability of gas, high frequency, water management issues and lack of transmission infrastructure.
The System Operator said, “On April 26, 2018, the average power sent out was 4,326MWh/hour, up by 246.86MWh/h from the previous day. A total of 1,626MW was not generated due to unavailability of gas. About 40MW was not generated due to unavailability of transmission infrastructure, while 1,075.5MW was not generated due to high frequency, resulting from unavailability of distribution infrastructure.
“About 190MW was not generated due to water management and the power sector lost estimated N1,407,000,000 on April 26, 2018 due to insufficient gas supply, distribution infrastructure, transmission infrastructure and water reserves. The dominant constraint on 26th of April 2018 remained gas, constraining a total of 1,626MW from being available on the grid. Generation peaked at the highest for 2018 at 5,090MW, and the fifth highest ever to date.”
The SO’s documents further showed that the grid had thus far recorded two system collapses this month, as was reported exclusively by The PUNCH on April 17.
After ensuring system stability for more than two months, the country’s power grid collapsed twice within a period of five days in April 2018.
Electricity generation figures showed that the grid recorded partial collapses on April 12 and 14 this year.
Generated power on the grid dropped from a high of 3,946.5 megawatts on April 11, to as low as 351.3MW on April 12, which was the lowest quantum of grid electricity recorded in the past two months.
Further findings showed that power generation remained in a partially collapsed state, as it only moved up marginally from the 351.3MW recorded on April 11, to 596MW on April 14.
Electricity on the grid eventually rose to 3,500MW on April 15, according to generation figures obtained from the SO.
Before the two partial collapses of this month, Nigeria’s power generation had hovered around 3,900MW for more than two months.
Industry data showed that the last system collapse before that of April 11 was recorded on the first day of February this year.
On February 5, 2018, The PUNCH exclusively reported the collapse of the national electricity grid from a high of 4,699.9MW on January 31, to 219MW on February 1.
The report also revealed that prior to the February 1 grid collapse, the country’s power generation system had earlier collapsed six times in the first eight days of 2018. (The Punch)
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