Electricity generation plunges below 2,500MW

Electricity generation in the country fell below 2,500 megawatts on Saturday amid low load demand by the distribution companies.

Total output from the nation’s 27 power plants dropped from 3,364MW as of 6am on Thursday to 2,649.1MW on Friday. It fell further to 2,492MW on Saturday, according to the Nigeria Electricity System Operator.

Latest data obtained by our correspondent on Sunday showed that 2,126MW generation capacity was unavailable as of Thursday as a result of low load demand by Discos.

The system operator put the nation’s installed generation capacity at 12,910.40MW; available capacity at 7,652.60MW; transmission wheeling capacity at 8,100MW; and the peak generation ever attained at 5,375MW.

The nation generates most of its electricity from gas-fired power plants while output from hydropower plants makes up about 30 per cent of the total.

According to the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, the assured off-take from the national grid by the existing distribution networks is 3,500MW.

“It is not a reflection of the actual demand or need for power and does not capture latent and unfulfilled energy needs of Nigerian consumers; 3,500MW is just the demand that is consistently taken by the available distribution infrastructure at any given time of day to supply customers and consumers,” the ministry said in a new document, called ‘Power Sector Policy Directives and Timelines.’

Only last week, generation companies had decried the lack of payment guarantee for the energy being generated, sold and fed into the national grid.