Nationwide darkness looms as Transmission Company of Nigeria says power generation drops to 2662MW

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says the nation’s power generation dropped from 3,959 megawatts on Jan. 4 to 2,662 megawatts on Jan. 22.TCN attributed the drop to low water levels at the hydro power stations and dearth of gas to the power generating companies.TCN said the total output of 2,662.20 megawatts from all the generation companies on Sunday had been transferred to the 11 distribution companies across the country.According to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) operational report for Jan. 4, the power sector hit a peak generation of 4,959 megawatts but dropped to 2,662.20 megawatts on Jan. 22.NESI said the sector recorded highest system frequency of 51.32Hz and lowest system frequency of 48.52 Hz, while the highest and the lowest voltage recorded on Sunday were 372KV and 300KV, respectively.The drop in generation has also been linked to the attack launched on pipeline facilities belonging to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) on Jan. 17 around Ugheli in Delta State.Egbin Power Station with a capacity of 1,320 megawatts, now generates 340 megawatts due to gas constraint.The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, had on Friday said that the sabotage of power assets by militants prevented Nigeria from generating 7,000 MW of electricity.“Today, at its most frugal, the nation’s power grid would support 6,500MW; pushed to its limit, it would carry 7,200MW.“So it is not true when you hear that the grid capacity is not more than 5,000MW. It is growing every day and more projects are coming up.“We have completed some and more are still coming up. So that is where we are,’’ Fashola said at the Nextier Power Dialogue in Abuja on Friday.The Minister said while power was out due to attacks on one axis, the expansion of either the grid or gas supply was kept alive on another axis and hydro power was also being expanded. Source: Agency