National Grid Collapse: FG speaks on restoring electricity to Nigerian homes

The Ministry of Power has given an update on the progress so far made to address the recent challenges in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

During the week, Minister Abubakar Aliyu met with stakeholders following the grid collapse which affected some states.

In a statement on Saturday, Aliyu revealed efforts on the restoration of electricity and the development of a framework for sustainable improvement of supply.

He recalled that the national grid lost about 1,100MW generation capacity due to simultaneous disruptions in gas supply to the Okpai, Calabar and the Afam VI power plants.

Aliyu said the available generation capacity was exacerbated by the ongoing water management regime at the Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro power plants.

On the progress, he confirmed that the gas pipeline affected by acts of vandalism have been restored and the Okpai power plant has resumed power generation and currently contributing an average of 300MW.

Also, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Pl has been directed to negotiate with NAOC on an interim energy sales agreement to bring the new Okpai Il power plant on the grid to contribute an additional 400MW of generation capacity.

“The “pigging” of the gas pipeline supplying gas to the Odukpani power plant is scheduled for completion on March 21 st 2022 thus ramping up generation by about 400MW”, he disclosed.

To optimise the utilisation of the plants owned by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Ltd (NDPHC), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has approved special pricing for emergency contracting of gas from the Nigerian Gas Marketing Company Ltd.

The government said it expects an on-grid improvement of about 800MW generation capacity from the NDPHC plants.

Aliyu announced an agreement with NGPIC (an NNPC subsidiary) on the framework to overhaul the Okoloma gas processing plant thereby restoring the full capacity of the 650MW Afam VI combined cycle power plant.

The minister who regretted the recent spate of system collapse said it was a direct consequence of a snap on a 330kV transmission line.

He assured that the mitigation measures for avoiding such incidence of blackouts are being implemented through several interventions including the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI).

Aliyu told electricity consumers that all relevant agencies involved in the restoration of normality in power supply have been charged to act in the context of the emergency state of the industry.