The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said the country’s power generation capacity dropped from 3,959 megawatts on Jan. 4 to 2,662 megawatts on Jan. 22.
The Nigeria Electricity System Operator (SO) website, a sub agency of TCN, gave the figure in its daily forecast on power generation data in Lagos on Sunday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that TCN attributed the drop to low water levels at the hydro power stations and dearth of gas to the power generating companies.
TCN said the total output of 2,662.20 megawatts from the generation companies on Sunday had been transferred to the 11 distribution companies.
According to the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) operational report for Jan. 4, the power sector hit a peak generation of 4,959 megawatts but dropped to 2,662.20 megawatts on Jan. 22.
NESI said the sector recorded highest system frequency of 51.32Hz and lowest system frequency of 48.52 Hz, while the highest and the lowest voltage recorded on Sunday were 372KV and 300KV.
An official of TCN, who preferred anonymity, told NAN electricity generation had been dwindling due to challenge of accessing gas by generation companies.
The official said low water levels at the country’s hydro thermal stations also contributed to the drop in generation.
He said most hydro stations were currently confronted with low water challenges to generate energy.
The TCN official said this often caused system collapse.
According to him, it is a challenging period for power sector but it will get better once the hydro swing into high water level and gas becomes available.
He attributed the drop in generation to the attack launched against pipeline facilities belonging to the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) on Jan. 17 around Ughelli in Delta State.
A top official of Egbin Power Station, who also pleaded anonymity, said the power plant, with a capacity of 1,320 megawatts, now generates 340 megawatts due to gas constraint.
The official said that the 340 megawatts Egbin generated was wheeled out to the national grid at 6.00 am on Sunday.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had on Friday said that the sabotage of power assets by militants prevented Nigeria from generating 7,000 MW of electricity.