LAGOS — POWER generation nationwide by the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) stations and the AES Power barges stationed at Ikorodu in Lagos State has dropped to 2566MW per day, and this has critically impacted supply and distribution in the country.
It was also gathered that the N64 billion budgetary allocations for the power sector in the 2005 appropriation may not be enough to achieve any meaningful impact.
Currently, as a result of very low water level all the hydro power stations in the country including Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro account for less than 500MW of electricity instead of over 800MW.
The thermal power stations including Egbin accounts for about 1000MW, Delta is generating 506MW, Sapele has two turbine units running and this accounts for 150MW, while three turbine units at Afam accounts for another 200MW output.
The AES Power Barge also currently accounts for 210MW being produced from seven functional gas turbines mounted on floating barges.
Mr. Okechukwu Ozoemena, NEPA’s Executive Director in-charge of Power Generation, had while speaking on the development explained that the low water levels at the hydro power stations is as a result of wrong projections from meteorologists in Mali.
He said the meteorologists had served notice that there was going to be flooding, adding that this would have been sufficient to power the hydro power plants during this period, “but the flood was not as unprecedented as the projections indicated.”
“We suspect the flood must have been used up by neighbouring countries before it got to Nigeria. Black flood is expected anytime now and it is expected to power the Kainji and Jebba Power stations and generate 300MW and 200MW respectively,” he pointed out.
He disclosed that the authority actually used up the water in the lake to make room for the expected flood, reiterating that NEPA did not anticipate the flood would not meet expectations.
The Egbin Power Station also has one of its units under rehabilitation and it is expected that ongoing work will be completed before the end of next week, while effort is also being made to get an extra unit at Kainji running.
Ozoemena explained that despite the low water level the authority’s engineers are working round the clock to get a Kaplan turbine unit at the Kainji station to work, adding that the blades can be alternated to operate on low water.
“We want to raise power generation up to 3000MW by mid-next week and we expect that this will restore normalcy in the system,” he said.
On why the authority continues to supply power to Niger Republic despite its inability to meet domestic demand, Ozoemena explained that only 50MW is supplied, adding that this has prevented the risk of having the neighbouring country dam the River Niger.
He served notice that if this happens, Nigeria will lose over 800MW of electricity produced by the hydro power stations.
The executive director also disclosed that the N64 billion budgetary allocations for year 2005 was barely enough for maintenance of the status quo in the sector, adding that 40 per cent of this amount will be used to sustain maintenance work in power generation and transmission.
Kainji Hydro Power Station, he pointed has not been maintained since 1968, noting that if government and NEPA decides to carry out maintenance work on the station, the entire budgetary allocation for the sector next year will not be enough.
