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Six power plants shut down for 35 hours as generation falls

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Six of Nigeria’s power plants were closed down between 8:15 pm on Thursday and 6 am on Saturday, leading to a slump of 1,190.3 megawatts (MW) in power generation, data from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator revealed on Sunday.

Statistics showed that eleven power plants were not producing electricity as of 6 am on Saturday.

The power plants comprised Olorunsogo II, Ihovbor, Gbarain, Ibom Power, AES, ASCO, Afam IV&V, Geregu II, Sapele II, Rivers IPP and Alaoji.

Nigeria’s total generated power tumbled to 3,385MW by 6 am on Saturday, having touched 4,573.3MW as of 8:15 pm on Thursday.

At that time on Thursday, only ASCO, AES, Olorunsogo II, Gbarain and Sapele II had been shut down.

Rivers IPP was reported to have been closed down on account of youth restiveness while Ibom Power’s GT1 did not operate because of inlet guide vane problem. GT2 was down as a result of fire hazard on the control panel just as GT3 was out owing to low demand from distribution companies (Discos).

Rupturing of gas pipeline prevented Gbarain from running; Ihovbor did not operate due to low demand from Discos as well as gas constraint.

Olorunsogo’s GT1 was idle because of inspection, GT2 and GT3 were down due to gas constraint while GT4 did not operate on the ground of leakage in cooling water system.

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

In its most recent report on power supply status on all 132/33/11kv interface substation, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission warned Discos against load rejection.

“Discos should be cautioned on deliberate refusal to clear faults on some 33kV feeders within the timeline of eight hours as stipulated in the Reporting Compliance Regulations.

“Discos should also be cautioned against deliberate isolation of some sections of 33kV feeders to limit the loading of the feeders and denying customers electricity services,” it said.

The regulator noted that it pinpointed all the interface stations facing capacity limitations and asked the Transmission Company of Nigeria to give them priority attention in its short term projects.

It requested Discos to improve on vegetation management particularly during the current rainy season in order to enhance the reliability of the feeders.

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