Inability to grid generated power worst challenge of electricity—BH Survey
—No plan insight to remedy situation
Two months long investigations by Business Hilights Intelligence Unit (BHIU), have revealed that the biggest problem hobbling power supplies across the country remains grid infrastructure to aid transmission and nothing serious is being made to resolve the issue by the government for now.
Checks at several power generating plants and hydro dams show that facilities to even produce well over 10,000MW are in place, but infrastructure to transmit by way of gridding generated power are in very limited supplies.
Top engineers working at several power stations confided in our undercover reporters that within the time massive investments were encouraged in power generating, it escaped the memories of the government and mainly the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to build up infrastructures.
Besides, it was gathered a greater number of Distribution Companies (Discos), are yet to make meaningful investment to drive more uptake of power for supplies to Nigerians.
There had been several reports of power rejection by Discos by the TCN and Gencos in the last 10 months and the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing had been mute on the act of rejection between Gencos and Discos.
For example, latest report on the crisis showed that the nation’s electricity generation has hit 7,000 megawatts, the highest in the history of Nigeria, but a large proportion of the generation is idle due to transmission infrastructure and ongoing rejection by Discos.
Findings revealed that Discos are in the habit of rejecting loads based on the logic that loads are given to them unnecessarily in excess to areas and districts where power is not much needed than areas and districts where electricity is more demanded.
The latest report which tends to align with BH survey as stressed by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola averred that “On Friday Dec. 8, we reached an all-time power production of 7,000 and a great peak supply of 5,155 Megawatts, which Nigeria has never produced or generated”.
“The last supply was 5074 MW in January 2016, after which we went into a season of disruption of gas supply by militants.
“It means that our policies and programs are working, and we are also so now able to evacuate substantially all of that power by transmission,” he said.
