Egbin power plant restores 338MW to national grid, as NGC completes maintenance on gas pipeline

… IBEDC load increases, restores supply to affected areas in Lagos, Ogun, Osun

… customers under Benin DisCo still affected

Oredola Adeola

The Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) has completed maintenance on a pipeline supplying gas to Egbin Power Station, three days behind schedule, resulting in a partial restoration of power in some parts of the country due to the addition of 338MW from Egbin Power plant to the national grid.

This was confirmed after a thorough investigation by EnergyDay on Sunday and confirmation by one of the sources in the know of the entire operation.

Further checks by EnergyDay revealed that the shutdown initially scheduled for three days saw a decrease in the quantum of bulk power delivered to the transmission network from generation companies, dropping to 4,477.7MW peak generation on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, when maintenance began.

The generation from the GenCos to the national grid was later restored to 4,799.9MW on Sunday, December 24, 2023, when it was confirmed completed.

Following the completion of maintenance on a pipeline supplying gas to Egbin Power Station, the plant experienced a partial restoration of power, with 338MW added as of 9 a.m. on Monday, December 2023, out of the 676MW of bulk power generated, translating to about 50% of the plant’s current capacity.

EnergyDay’s investigation revealed that the partial restoration of generation at the Egbin power plant increased the bulk power available to be delivered to Ibadan IBEDC to 502MW from about 362MW, while Benin DisCo is still receiving 341MW.

Findings by our correspondent showed that power has therefore been fully restored to some of Lagos, Ogun, Osun, and other areas under the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company.

EnergyDay reported that the Egbin plant generated 680MW at 9 am on Monday, December 18, 2023, but dropped to 0MW at 10 am on the same day, and remained so until 10 pm on Saturday, December 23, 2023, when it restarted with 62MW.

The trajectory of supply from Egbin increased from 80MW at 1 am to 190MW at 2 am, 213MW at 3 am, 232MW at 4 am, 310MW at 5 am, 337MW at 6 am, 337MW at 7 am, 338MW at 8 am, and 338MW at 9 am on Monday, December 25, 2023.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) which had earlier issued a statement announcing the maintenance plans, is yet to respond to a request by EnergyDay regarding the update on the progress of the maintenance and an estimated timeline for when the Egbin power plant is expected to resume full operations.

Ndidi Mbah, the General Manager of Public Affairs at the TCN is yet to respond to an inquiry by EnergyDay regarding the update on the progress of the maintenance and an estimated timeline for when the Egbin power plant is expected to resume its operations.

The TCN had in a statement published by EnergyDay on Tuesday, notified the public that by Tuesday, December 18, 2023, Egbin Power generating station will shut down to allow the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) to maintain a linking gas pipeline supplying gas to the power station.

TCN in the statement said, “The station will be shut down for 3 days from today. This means a reduction of 676MW of bulk power generated into the nation’s grid for 3 days and consequently the quantum of bulk power available to be delivered to distribution companies load centers nationwide for the period,” the notice released on Monday stated.