Power
New investors for power sector soon – FG
T
he Federal Government has said it would soon call for bid from new investors in the power generation and distribution chain following failure of the current investors to improve the nation’s electricity industry. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, dropped the hint at the commissioning of the power substation infrastructure built by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, at Abeokuta, Ogun State capital. He said that the Federal Government has already taken the decision to further open the electricity sector to new investors after realizing that the national grid system can’t meet the power demand of consumers. Government he said has approved substantial change strategies backed by various policies that will encourage more investments to the industry. According to him, the present administration has made some remarkable impact by boosting installed generation capacity to 13,437 Megawatts, MW, and available capacity to 8,342 MW, and 7,000 evacuation capacity, adding that t he i n a bi l it y of D i st r i but ion C ompa n ies, D isC os, to del iver g r id power to end users have significantly distorted the efforts of gover n ment. He noted that power d istr i bution compa n ies’ insuff icient inf ra str ucture ha s restricted distribution to about 4,0 0 0M W a nd at pea k per iods 5,40 0M W. He sa id that gover n ment ha s 16
Majorwaves Energy Report
identi f ied wea k ne s s of the DisCos which include inadequate capital to prov ide needed i n f r a s t r u c t u r e a n d m et e r i n g cha l len ge s a mon g ot her s. He stated that i n order to resolve t he s e cha l lenge s, gover n ment i nt ro duce d t he Meter A s s et P r o v i d e r, M A P, s c h e m e t o resolve the l i nger i ng meter i ng challenges in the system, adding t h at s o fa r t he D i s C o s h ave received a nd proces sed a bout 250,0 0 0 applications from customers, a nd that hopef u l ly the number would quadruple by end of the yea r. He expres sed optimism that with the implementation of the M A P, the industr y would be able to close the 5.3 m i l l ion meter i ng gap existing currently. He said other mea sures ta ken by gover nment include the Siemens Pha sed Electrification Roadmap, which w a s f l a g g e d o f f r e c e nt l y b y President Muhammadu Buhari. He s a id t hat u nder pha s e 1, Tra nsmis sion a nd Distr i bution wou ld be a ble to deliver 7,0 0 0 M W, a n d u n d e r p h a s e 2 , 11,0 0 0 M W would be achieved wh i le 25,0 0 0M W i s ta rgeted u nder pha se 3. He expla i ned t h at gover n ment ex p e ct s t he DisCos to recapitalize and come up w ith resources to i mprove on their ser v ices, but even at t hat t he ma rket i s s et to welcome new i nvestors i n the distribution and generation sub sectors.
SEPTEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 6
In his speech, the Managing D i rector a nd C h ief E xecutive Off icer, of the N DPHC , C h iedu Ug b o, s a id t hat t he c omp a ny’s contr i bution to the Tra nsm is sion g r id system ha s tra nsfor med the hitherto radial 330Kv/132KV grid i nto a more robust g r id system w ith sig n i f ica nt prov i sion of a lter native power f low route s which no ser ve a s redunda ncies a nd which ha s resulted in a mo r e r el i a ble a nd s t a ble g r id. He reca lled the commissioning of the 22 0 - k i lometer long 33 0 K V D ou ble C i r c u it l i ne s pr ov id i n g a lternative supply routes to A buja a nd the F C T f rom G ereg u through a new L okoja substation, a n e w Gw a g w a l a d a s u b s t at i o n into the Transmission Company of Niger ia, T C N, K ata mpe a nd Apo substations with several significant substation developments along that r oute. H e a d d e d t h at b et we e n 2 015 a nd now a b out 3 0 N I PP Tra n sm i s sion P rojects i n her ited by pre s ent ad m i n i st rat ion have b e e n c o mp l ete d w h i l e ove r 70 D i str i bution P roject s have a l so been completed acros s the 6 geopol itica l zones. T he Manag ing Director and C h ief E xe cutive Of f icer, of t he Transmission Company of Nigeria, T C N, Us m a n M o h a m m e d , s a i d t h e c o m p a n y h a s s i g n i f i c a nt l y i mproved its ser v ices a nd is now not rega rded a s the wea kest l i n k in the industry chain. Mohammed s a id it s whe el i n g c ap a c it y h a s i mp r ove d to a b out 8 ,0 0 0 M W b ut l a m e nt e d t h at D i s C o s a r e frustrating efforts of the company by rejecti ng load. Accord i ng to him, most substations are stranded due to ina bi lity of DisC os to t a ke lo ad, add i n g t h at a l l t he su bstations put i n place i n K a no St ate to day a re id le a s D i s C o s a re not w i l l i ng to ta ke up to 3 0 p er c ent of p ower f r om t hem. H e app e a le d to gover n ment to i nter vene by extend i ng f u nd i ng support to the DisCos but warned that the TCN may be prompted to ta ke over a ny D isco that is not willing to take load from existing stations. www.majorwavesenergyreport.com
