One of the rare good news out of Nigeria for the past three weeks is that electricity generation has increased and somewhat stable to a near record high. Data from Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC has also substantiated the fact.
Acrooding to the commission, power generated as at two weeks ago peak generated capacity rose to 3440 MW as at the 14th of August.
When compared to the week before, it showed that generated capacity grew by 5%. There is also a significant improvement in the generated Mwh from 74719 to 75416 in the last two weeks.
The significant increase in power supply in Nigeria has been attributed to the high level of water in Nigeria’s hydro-thermal plants. The need to support this source with gas powered turbines is expedient as the rainy season would soon be gone.
Nigeria’s two key sources of electricity has been water and gas-powered turbines. However gas inputs has been constrained due to vanadalisation of oil and gas installations by renewed militant activitiesin the Niger Delta.
The latest declaration of a cease fire by the Niger Delta Avengers is expected to stabilise the inputs of gas for turbines that need it badly. Egbin is Nigeria’s largest gas-powered turbine and power installation with an installed capacity of 1320 MW consisting of 6 Units of 220MW each.
Stable power supply is needed more than ever in Nigeria. To get out of a biting recession productivity needs to increase as well as the cost of production for local manufacturers need to come down drastically to boost local demand.
