2,074 megawatts remain untapped as one-third of Nigeria’s power plants shut down

Nine or one-third of Nigeria’s 27 power plants were idle on Thursday, making 2,079.1 megawatts (mw) out of the nation’s total generation capacity remain idle.

Total power generation climbed to 3,269mw as of 6 am Thursday, according to data from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator’s website, up from 3,074.6mw a day before.

The country’s installed generation capacity is 12,910.40mw, available capacity 7,652.60mw, transmission wheeling capacity 8,100mw and all-time peak generation 5,375mw

Five of the power plants were among those constructed under the National Integrated Power Project including namely Gbarain, Ihovbor, Olorunsogo II, Omotosho II and Alaoji. AES, Afam IV & V, Ibom Power and ASCO made up the rest.

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The system operator cited low load demand by the distribution companies, maintenance, gas inadequacy, frequency response and gas pipeline rupturing among other reasons for the shutdown.

One of the plants, AES, has not produced power since September 2014.

Nigeria derives the 87.5 per cent of its electricity from gas-fired power plants, with the rest 12.5 per cent coming from hydro sources.

The Advisory Power Team, Office of the Vice-President said on Wednesday, “the power sector lost an estimated N2.01bn on July 14, 2020 due to constraints from insufficient gas supply, distribution infrastructure and transmission infrastructure.”