Power generation on the national grid has continued to hover above 4,000 megawatts since January this year, following the deployment of transformers, substations and other accessories to boost supply.
Grid performance data obtained from the Federal Ministry of Power in Abuja on Sunday showed that electricity generation on the national grid as at 6am on the same day was 4,456.8MW.
On the preceding day, it was 4,618.8MW (peak generation); and 4,000.2MW (off-peak generation), according to figures obtained by our correspondent the power ministry’s headquarters.
An analysis of randomly picked figures from the grid performance data indicated that power generation had stayed above the 4,000MW mark for months, while the country had yet to record any total grid collapse this year, unlike what happened in 2022.
On March 2 and 3, 2023, for instance, power generation on the grid as at 6am was put at 4,859.8MW and 4,962.7MW respectively, while it was 4,753.9MW on February 23, 2023, as similar generation figures were recorded in the preceding month.
Analysts believe that the current stability of the grid was due to improvements in the deployment of equipment such as transformers, substations and other accessories.
The manager of the national grid – Transmission Company of Nigeria, an agency of the Federal Government, had continued to announce the deployment of transformers and other accessories to power stations across the country.
On Saturday, for instance, TCN said it took delivery of a 100MVA transformer and accessories in its Katampe 132/33kV Transmission Substation, under its Abuja region.
“On installation, the new 100MVA power transformer will replace one of the two 60MVA 132/33kV power transformers in the substation.
“This will increase the transformer capacity in the substation from 120MVA to 160MVA,” the company stated via a series of tweets on its Twitter handle.
It also tweeted that eight truckloads of transformer accessories arrived in its Benin region of TCN to boost power supply in the state and across the country.
“The Benin region of TCN has taken delivery of eight truckloads of transformer accessories in its Benin 330/132/33kV Substation.
“The transformer accessories are for the installation of two number 300MVA power transformers that will soon be delivered to the Benin 330/132/33kV Substation.
“The 300MVA transformer project is a part of TCN’s rehabilitation projects funded by the World Bank and on installation, the transformers will add 480MVA to the capacity of the nation’s transmission grid,” the company stated.
Unlike the repeated cases of grid collapse recorded in 2022, the deployment of substations and transformers seem to have helped in stabilising the system this year.
Various updates from the power sector showed that Nigeria’s power grid collapsed about seven times last year. It collapsed on September 25, 2022, when power generation on the system crashed from over 3,700MW to as low as 38MW.
On July 20, 2022, Nigeria’s power grid saw the sixth collapse in 2022, while on June 13, The PUNCH reported a grid collapse. The nation’s power system collapsed twice in March and twice again in April last year.
However, despite the recent stability of the grid, power generation had continued to fluctuate due to various concerns such as gas constraints, water management challenges, and gas pipeline vandalism, among others.
To address these challenges, analysts tasked the incoming administration to give priority to the power sector, stressing that this was among the key demands of Nigerians and various business entities.
“As far as the power sector is concerned and the end-users or the public is concerned, the major priority of the in-coming administration should be energy security,” the President, Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, Kunle Olubiyo, stated.
He added, “Nigeria is one of the leading members of OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and it is quite abnormal and a global embarrassment that in the midst of abundant reserves of gas, crude oil and all other variables that make the energy economy, Nigeria still lacks adequate energy.”
