It has been shown that just nine of the 26 power plants that are part of the national system provide 71% of the electricity required by the nation.
The plants, each with a minimum of 5.76 percent equity, are Egbin, Kainji, Azura-Edo IPP, Jebba, Delta, Shiroro, Odukpani, Afam VI, and Geregu, according to The PUNCH.
The industry may be in danger as a result of the grid’s over reliance on the electricity provided by nine of the 26 power plants, according to statistics gathered by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, or NERC, for its most recent report, “State of the Sector NERC Annual Report 2020.”
This was due to NERC’s warning that if there was insufficient capacity reserved from other plants to promptly counterbalance the negative effects of any abrupt loss of generation from any of the nine plants, downtime in any one of them might cause grid instability.
As per the research, 71.80% of the total electric energy generated in 2020 was produced by the nine power plants.
Owing to its size and accessibility, the Egbin power plant produced the greatest amount of energy—13.54 percent of the total energy output—followed by the Kainji hydroelectric project, which produced 8.31 percent. Jebba, Delta, Azura Edo, and Shiroro were also in the top six contributors to output in 2020.
Gbarain Power Plant contributed the smallest percentage of output, 0.24 percent, for the same time period.
Since the aforementioned nine power plants only contributed for 67.26 percent of total generation in 2019, the reliance on them increased by 4.54 percentage points.
In order to fairly distribute risks among industry operators and give assurance to the minimal amount of energy required of each generating plant, the NERC announced that it has started the process of gradually activating the industry contracts.
The Commission stated that it was anticipated that this would result in a gradual increase in electricity availability and utilization.
The average generation in 2020 was 4,054MWh, or approximately 5.97 percent more than the generation level in 2019. The 26 operational plants had an available generation capacity of 6,107MW.
On October 30, 2020, the industry reached its highest-ever day peak generation of 5,520MWh.
Nigeria promises to reach at least 5000MW starting on July 1, but its current output is just slightly over 4000MW.
According to experts, the nation needs at least 30,000 MW to achieve sufficiency.
According to the NERC, resolving all operational and technical issues in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) continues to be of utmost importance.
“We are currently working to ensure that the Payment Assurance Facility for ensuring that GenCos honour their obligation to gas suppliers comes to an end. The Commission is finalising an Escrow Arrangement for the industry that will provide payment security for GenCos and gas suppliers pending full activation of contract obligations,” it said.
The system operator, or SO, deployed 61.74 percent of the available capacity of an average power plant operating in 2020, according to the average load factor across all units, which was 61.74 percent. When compared to the 60.68 percent reported in 2019, this indicates a marginal gain of 1.06 percentage points.
With 83.60 percent, 78.73 percent, and 67.59 percent of their available capacities sent by the SO, the hydro plants Kanji, Jebba, and Shiroro were the first, third, and eighth with the highest dispatch rates, respectively.
As a result, NERC declared that the three hydroelectric facilities’ dispatch rates comply with its Order NERC/182/2019, which required SO to run hydropower units.
Given their low tariffs and the risk of dam spills during the rainy season, the Order aimed to make sure hydro plants were dispatched as effectively as possible.
The load factor of the Azura power plant was 79.74 percent in 2020, whereas Sapele NIPP had the lowest dispatch rate at 33.71 percent.
The country’s 26 power plants’ combined generation capacity has decreased by 70%, according to a July article published by The PUNCH.
Data showed that as of July 2021, when the plants were last assessed, their combined capacity had decreased from 13, 461MW to 4,022MW.
A spokesperson for the GenCos, Joy Ogaji, declined comments on the perennial low power generation by the firms.
