AS ELECTRICITY SUPPLY DROPS NATIONWIDE, FG ADMITS POWER SECTOR CHALLENGES ARE GETTING OUT OF HAND

The federal government  Monday  admitted that it was facing serious challenges fixing the problematic power sector, adding that the sector was bedevilled by a lot of man-made challenges as well as that of age-long neglect.

Nationwide power generation had dropped to 2,290 MW, leaving a large number of the country's about 160 million people  in darkness.

Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said in Abuja, while receiving the report of a technical investigative panel on system collapses in Nigeria's electricity sector headed by former official in the Ministry, Mr. Fatai Olapade, that Nigerians must see and protect public infrastructure as their own.

He stated that the situation in the power sector was getting out of hand and called for the support of Nigerians in checking vandalism of power facilities being put in place by the government.

According to him: "It is interesting to note that some of the causes of system collapses could be corrected by very simple work that could be done seemingly effortlessly.

“I will like to plead with the generality of our people to understand that we are facing very difficult times in the power sector. Some of these problems are man-made, some have accrued from years of under-funding and under-development of the sector."

The disruption of gas supply to several generating stations had worsened electricity supply  in the country.

Speaking further on the development, Nebo said: "And occasionally vandalism and sabotage, gas pipeline are vandalised as we saw this weekend.

“I do hope that with time we will mature to a level where we see infrastructure that is being put in place by government for the empowerment of the people as a sacred trust that should not be abused."
The minister urged Nigerians to stop unwholesome acts and behaviours that impoverished the people, adding that protecting public facilities was a job for all Nigerians.

He said the panel would be retained to implement their findings and assured that the report would not be placed on the shelf to rot.

The minister declined to reveal the content of the report but assured Nigerians that it would be open after government had studied it. He also commended the panel for keeping to the timeline set by government to complete their investigation.
Speaking earlier, Olapade had disclosed that since the panel was inaugurated two weeks ago, the grid system had collapsed thrice.

He expressed the hope that government would implement the recommendation contained in the report.

The worsening power supply had been blamed on the disruption of gas supply to eight power generating stations as a result of vandalism of two major gas pipelines supplying gas to the stations has led to worsening power supply situation in the country, with generation dropping by 1,598megawatts.

The eight affected power plants are Egbin/AES Thermal Stations in Lagos; Olorunsogo Power Station in Ogun State; Omotoso Power Plant in Ondo State; Geregu Power Station built under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) in Kogi State; Afam IV and VI power stations, as well as Rivers State Independent Power Station in Rivers State.

Confirming this development in statement on Sunday night, the General Manager in charge of Public Affairs at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr. Dave Ifabiyi, said the situation had led to massive load shedding across the country.

Ifabiyi said one of the vandalised gas pipelines was getting its supply from the Okoloma gas plant in Rivers State, while the second pipeline takes from Escravos in Warri area of Delta State.

“With the disruption of gas supply through the lines, the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) is unable to move gas to Afam IV, Afam VI as well as the Independent Power Plant in Rivers State, resulting in generation loss of 593MW.

Also, the second vandalised gas pipeline from Escravos to Warri, caused a cutback of 1,005MW in power generation from Egbin/AES power generating station, Olorunsogo, Omotosho and Geregu NIPP power generating plants, resulting in generation loss of 1005MW."

He added that: "With the total generation loss of 1,598MW, the total power generation is now 2,290MW. With this low level generation the operation and control of the system is a major challenge."

Ifabiyi said with the total generation loss of 1,598MW, the total power generation as at 2p.m. on Sunday was 2,290megawatts.
According to him, with this low level generation, the operation and control of the system was a major challenge.

He said due to the critical importance of these pipelines to power generation, the NGC was said to be seriously working to isolate the vandalised portions of the pipelines in order to effect repairs.

The TCN spokesman also gave an assurance that there was hope that gas supply could be restored to the affected power generating stations soonest, adding that the transmission company deeply regretted the inconveniences the load shedding was causing Nigerians nationwide.

The country’s transmission network had witnessed an unprecedented rise in number of total and partial system collapse in recent weeks due to factors ranging from vegetation caused by rainfall and abrupt disruption of gas supply to power stations; to other unknown causes.

This development had prompted Nebo to inaugurate a 11-member Technical Investigative Panel to articulate ways of mitigating constant system collapse in the power sector.
The minister also charged the panel to review the performance and effectiveness of the National Grid’s protection system in the period under review.

Though many experts in the power sector have blamed the frequent system disturbance on frequent tripping of critical lines, with most of the “tripping traceable to fouling of the line conductors by vegetation,” the Federal Government suspects sabotage due to the opposition against the ongoing power reform by a section of the stakeholders.

Source: Thisday