With New Gas Supply Deal, FG to Sustain Peak Power Generation

A new gas supply agreement among the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), power Generation Companies (Gencos) and other major stakeholders may see the federal government sustaining the current peak performance by the sector, THISDAY learnt at the weekend.

Since the deal, which saw the NNPC paying about N220 billion to the gas suppliers, which the Minister of Power, Mr. Saleh Mamman, said was to ensure consistent supply of gas to the power plants in the next three months, power generation has peaked consistently.

Last Wednesday, following the new development, for the first time ever, the country recorded a daily energy generation output of 111,591.83MWH of electricity, exceeding the existing record generation by about 507.22MWH more than any previous level.

On Friday, a new daily peak was achieved when the megawatts per hour hit 112,448.81MWH, exceeding the peak generation 48 hours before by about 856.98 MWH.The National Control Centre (NCC) Osogbo said the new daily energy peak of 112,448.81MWH, which was achieved on April 17, was higher than the previous maximum value achieved on April 15 by 856.98 MWH.

The peak generation for the period was 5,210.50MW while the lowest generation was 4,101.70MW.“It is really unprecedented – the performance of the sector continues to improve in spite of the COVID-19 lockdown. The new peak is also happening two days after the previous maximum daily energy peak,” General Manager, Public Affairs, TCN, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, said.

Mbah told THISDAY that if the trend continues, sustaining the current peak performance would not pose any challenge, stressing that the current consistent gas supply to the generation plants has ensured that some certainty now exists in the industry.

She traced the improvement in power generation to the resolution by the stakeholders to ensure adequate gas supply, noting that all the plants hitherto starved of gas and were not producing power at all had gradually picked up while those that were operating at lower capacities are now in peak performance.

SOURCE: ThisDay