National grid sustains 4000MW peak generation in five days
Samuel Agbelusi
The national grid has sustained peak generation of 4000 megawatts(MW) within the last five days, after hitting 4,045MW on Wednesday, being the highest supplied by the power Generation Companies(GenCos) into the Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN) network system.
This was obtained by EnergyDay in the data uploaded by Nigeria’s power System Operator via its website, five (5) after it reached that 4000MW threshold.
Analysis of the data showed that the momentum of peak generation was sustained from Wednesday, August 10 to Sunday, August 14, 2022, being the period under review.
On Wednesday, the peak power generation to the national grid increased by 154.6MW from the 3,993.5megawatts recorded on Tuesday, August 9. This, therefore, resulted in a peak generation of 4,045MW (3.97 per cent increase from the previous day)
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Aug 11, 4,464.00MW was attained, amounting to a peak increase of 418.90MW from 4,045MW recorded a day before.
The figure for Thursday was however the highest peak generation attained within the period under review, as the peak generation decreased on Friday, August 12.
The Friday figure showed a decline from 4,464.00 by -174.10MW (-3.90%) as peak generation stood at 4,289.90 megawatts.
There was a further decline on Saturday, as peak generation dropped further to 4,136MW. This showed a relative decline of about -153.90MW(-3.59%) in power supplied to the national grid.
However, the trend continued on Sunday, as peak generation declined further to 4,104.40MW. This showed a decrease of -0.76% or -31.60MW from the previous day.
The analysis by EnergyDay for the period under review therefore showed that the lowest peak generation, 4,045megawatts was recorded on Wednesday, while the highest peak generation was attained on Thursday with 4,464MW.
However, after attaining the highest peak on Thursday with 4,464 megawatts, the quantum of electricity received by TCN from GenCos continued to decline.
Ndidi Mbah, TCN spokesperson, was not responding to calls by our correspondent seeking comments from her on the latest development.
A summary of the data gathered within the period under review showed that despite attaining about 4,000MW, the grid system does not give an assurance that it could sustain the quantum of peak generation.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had recently initiated a contract-based Nigerian Electricity Supply Market with the intention of achieving a 5,000 Megawatts target. The initiative, billed to commence on July 1, 2022, later failed to take off as the players in the sector insisted that constraints in the industry were not addressed.
Dr. Joy Ogaji, Executive Secretary of the Association of Power Generation Companies, APGC, said the government must guarantee gas supply to the power plants if it is committed to achieving the 5,000MW target.
GenCos said the FG must be committed to offsetting debts owed to them to facilitate the repairs of generation units damaged by the frequent breakdown of the national grid.
