The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has transmitted about 3,810 megawatts of electricity generated on September 8 by the generation companies to the 11 distribution companies.
The Nigerian Electricity System Operator (SO) announced this on its website on Thursday.
According to its operational report for September 8, the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) indicates that the power sector hit a peak generation of 3,810.5 megawatts and lowest peak generation of 2,834.40 megawatts.
NESI said the power sector recorded highest system frequency of 51.55Hz; lowest system frequency of 48.78 Hz, highest voltage recorded was 372KV, while lowest voltage recorded on the same day was 300KV.
It will be recalled that the TCN on Aug. 31 sent 2,766 megawatts to the distribution companies.
The lowest energy generation on the day under review was 2,520 megawatts while highest generation was 3,502 megawatts.
The nation’s electricity generation has been stable in the last two months, while generation has increased above 3,000 megawatts.
The downturn in power supply was exacerbated in May by the several attacks on oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta.
This made the generation plunged to a new low of 1,400 megawatts on May 17, according to the TCN.
The nation’s power grid recorded 21 collapses in the first half of the year; 16 total and five partial collapses.
The latest system partial collapse was recorded on July 10, according to data from the National Control Centre.
More than half of the nation’s power plants are currently facing gas shortage, with unutilised electricity generation capacity due to gas constraints put at 3,988.3MW as at August.
The country generates the bulk of its electricity from gas-fired power plants, while output from hydro-power plants makes up about 30 per cent of the total generation.
In what was a big blow to electricity generation in the country, Shell’s Forcados export terminal was hit in February, forcing the oil major to “declare force majeure’’ on the exports of the crude oil grade.
Prof. Barth Nnaji, former Minister of Power and Chief Executive, Geometric Power Limited, said in Lagos recently that the country should diversify its sources of power generation to ensure sustainable fuel supply.
According to him, “we have not touched coal. We have a lot of coal in the country.”
“The U.S. produces about 40 per cent of its one million megawatts of electricity from coal, while China produces 60 per cent of its electricity from coal.
“We have coal here but we are not making use of it. Even the natural gas that we have, are we really producing the gas.
“It is certainly not enough. Hydro is another source,’’ he said.
