From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government on Thursday blamed the erratic power supply currently being experienced in Abuja and other parts of the country on the low water levels in the hydro dams.
Minister of Power Abubakar Aliyu made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja during the weekly State House ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team held at the Presidential Villa.
Aliyu, who spoke on various initiatives in his ministry, including the Presidential Power Initiatives (PPI) being driven by Siemens, said the government is doing everything to ensure an optimum supply of gas to ensure quick restoration of power.
On the national metering programme, the minister said the metering gaps are being reduced across the country with the rollout of one million meters for the first phase of the initiative while awaiting four million others under the second phase.
He cautioned electricity distribution companies (DisCos) that are involved in selling metres to desist from such acts as meter procurement is free.
Aliyu explained that the government is expediting action on the proposed installation of 10 power transformers with additional ten mobile substations for massive improvement of electricity supply nationwide.
He also said the issue of Right of Way was stalling power projects despite the fact that findings are already on the ground.
Aliyu said: “We are engaging with the state governors through the Nigerian Governors Forum to drive a holistic solution to these lingering issues. Some examples of critical projects held up by Right of Way are Benin to Oshgbo which I’ve mentioned 330 KV line which is 250 kilometres, Ikot Ekepene to Ikot Abasi also 330 KV line 68 kilometre and the Kano-Katsina 330 KV line 180 Kilometer.
The minister said the attention the power sector under Buhari’s administration was receiving is unprecedented.
‘The enormity of the decay in the sector is what we are battling with to ensure we overcome challenges with electricity delivery in the country,’ he said.
On the 700 megawatts Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Station in Niger, Aliyu said the project which is at 90 per cent completion suffered a setback over the rising insecurity in the North West, which has forced workers out of the construction site.
The Federal Government had set December 2021 for the completion and commissioning of the project, which is expected to be the second-largest hydroelectric power station in the country, behind the 760 megawatts (1,020,000 hp), Kainji hydroelectric project.
The minister said the project site was attacked on January 4 with two Chinese nationals working at the site kidnapped, after killing the security guards.
According to him, work has ‘slowed down at the site, while efforts are on to rescue the Chinese workers.’
The minister while speaking on the metering policy of the government insists that ‘meters are provided free.
‘We have said this times without numbers that these meters are free. They are instruments for generating money, how can we be selling meters.’
He said the Federal Government has secured and is executing up to $4 billion in investments in the Grid to ensure more grid power is delivered to citizens.
The minister, while providing details of electricity supply, said the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry has the delivering grid, captive, and embedded power to the tune of almost 8,000MW daily, as against the speculated 4,000MW.
He noted that the nation has an installed capacity of almost 18,000MW, not 13,000MW.
‘I’d like you also to take away that we deliver 8,000MW of electricity daily through a combination of Grid, Embedded and Industrial Captive supply of Electricity (not 4,000MW as is frequently reported), much of this capacity added during the life of this administration.
‘These are not my figures; this was an industry study conducted by KPMG recently,’ he stated.
He disclosed that much of the improvement to 8,000MW occurred under the Buhari administration ‘through positive industrial policies driving captive industrial power investment and improved grid stability although we continue and must continue to work to improve the performance of the grid.’
Aliyu explained that these come from 28 Grid Power plants with an Installed Capacity of 13,000MW and Operational Daily Capacities of around 5,000MW, with the plants located at Egbin, Ughelli, Geregu, Kainji.
‘266 Captive Power plants (mainly industrial > 1MW) with Installed Capacities of 4,000MW and Daily Operational Capacities of around 2,500MW. These include the Dangote Cement Capacities in Obajana Ibese (400MW), and NLNG’s Bonny Island Power Plant (240MW), amongst others.
‘These are never captured in the statistics but are part of the NESI and form our industrial load for jobs. In the future, many of these plants will integrate into the grid, in fact, some of them supply power to communities they occupy.
’16 Embedded Power Plants with 549MW of Installed Capacities and 190MW of Daily Operational Capacity.
‘From the KPMG rebasing analysis above it is clear that the NESI needs to make better utilisation of particularly the Grid-based Power Plants. The only way this can happen is through the improvement of the Grid. The Federal Government has many key grid initiatives with more than N125.2 billion budgeted between 2015 to 2021 for TCN and Development.’
The minister assured that the government is working on more firm Gas supply contracts for the Power sector backed by improved liquidity, which will have stiff financial penalties for underperformance.
On the Siemens Presidential Power Initiative (PPI, the Minister noted that the ‘government will bring in an additional $2.0 billion or more to the Transmission Grid.’
He disclosed that contracts have been awarded for the construction of 10 transformers and 10 mobile power substations through Siemens which will be delivered soon.
‘We are working tirelessly to ensure that all of these investments translate to incremental delivered power.
‘There are 135 ongoing projects for transmission lines, substations and other associated grid infrastructure. TCN has completed 30 key Substation Projects and 12 important Transmission Lines
He listed efforts to increase power supply to include increasing the energy mix to improve energy security.
‘We will complete the Zungeru Hydro plant, the Katsina Wind plant, Kashimbila Hydro as well as ensure the challenges with Gurara are permanently resolved (partnering with the Ministry of Water). We are also working to resolve issues that have prevented large On-grid Solar from taking off in Nigeria
‘“We are re-tooling the System Operator for improved dispatch optimisation based on technologies and improved maintenance schedule alignments across generators.
‘We are on the path to resolving the financial challenges in the sector and we will continue to provide robust and clear regulation to keep participants such as DISCOs, GENCOs and even TCN in line to deliver for Nigerians,’ he explained.