Power: Why Gencos Can’t Deliver 6000MW Target

Contrary to the expectations of Nigerians that they would soon have improved electricity supply of 6,000 megawatts in the country, which was the target for 2016 set by the federal government earlier in the year, operators in the sector have confirmed that the country cannot achieve this target due to issues of gas shortage, debts and transmission challenges confronting the power companies.

LEADERSHIP learnt that electricity generation crashed to 3,050.20MW last weekend. An official of the Nigerian Electricity System Operator of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) disclosed that electricity generation had been dwindling due to challenges of accessing gas by generation companies.

Also, the executive secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies, Joy Ogaji, said debts owed them, which stood at more than N400 billion, was one of the major reasons for the poor power supply in the country.

In an interview with LEADERSHIP recently, the managing director, Mainstream Energy Solutions Ltd, Engr Lamu Audu, the concessionaire of Kainji and Jebba Hydro Power Plants, said that, if put together, the available installed capacity of all the generating plants in Nigeria may reach the 6,000MW target, but the fact that some power plants cannot run due to lack of gas while some have the gas but cannot transmit into the grid because of transmission problems make it unlikely that they would achieve the 6,000MW target by the end of the year .

Leadership, December 13

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