Power generation companies (Gencos) in Nigeria have alleged that the electricity generated in Nigeria is forced to be reduced by an average of 4,210 megawatts daily due to transmission and distribution constraints.
In a release in Abuja authored by the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), the Gencos said the forced reduction of generated electricity has been with the country for many years.
The Association said that the supply curve from pre-privatisation to date showed that available generation capacity, which was 3,427.5mw, had increased by 138.34% to 8,169MW. The group however said the Gencos recovered 4,741.5MW.
“However, due to system constraints, generated power is rejected or forced to be reduced to match the infrastructure that transmits and distributes this power to the customer.
A case in point: Between January to August 2020, despite an available generation capacity of 8,169MW, Gencos were only allowed to generate 3,959MW, thus losing an average of 4,210MW daily,” the association said.
It noted that with a total available installed generation capacity of more than 8,000MW and maximum wheeling capacity of not more than 5,500MW, there would always be a recurring instance of over 2,500MW idle generation.
“Idle generation represents capital investment not able to yield revenue that will hence impact the ability of the Gencos to support efficient operations and service loans used in developing the power plants,” the association stated.
Out of the meagre 5,500MW of transmission wheeling capacity, the Discos had not proven to be able to distribute more than 4,500MW, continuously leaving yet another 1,000MW of generation capacity unutilised.
“In total, due to the combined technical incapacitation of TCN (Transmission Company of Nigeria) and the Discos, the Gencos are unable to deploy a total of 3,500MW of capacity that would ensure sustainable profitable operations.
“If one considers the fact that the Discos have in the recent past been operating around 3,500MW or below, this figure escalates to 4,000MW of idle capacity. In effect, the Gencos are not able to deploy over 4,000MW of idle power,” APGC said.
Out of the over 4,000MW wheeled by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in first quarter of 2020, the Discos only remitted an average of 20% (800MW) of this power as revenue to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company. This, it said, made a total of 7,200MW generation capacity that was not yielding revenue for the Gencos.
The Gencos also noted that any government that subsidises 75-80% of distributed power had yet to come to terms with the tenets of privatisation.
By Chibisi Ohakah, Abuja
Be the first to know when we publish an update
