The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has approved a special gas pricing for emergency contracting of gas from the Nigerian Gas Marketing Company Ltd.
The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, in a statement in Abuja, on Saturday, said the approval was given for power plants owned by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), to optimise the capacity utilisation of the plants by about 800 megawatts (MW) generation capacity.
The Minister said the approval followed an emergency meeting convened by him on March 14, towards the restoration of normal electricity supply nationwide and the development of a framework for sustainable improvement of supply.
Aliyu said the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc was also directed to enter into fast-track negotiation with NAOC on an interim energy sales agreement to bring the new Okpai Il Power Plant in Delta State on the grid, thereby contributing additional 400MW of generation capacity.
“The ‘pigging’ of the gas pipeline supplying gas to the Odukpani power plant in Calabar is scheduled for completion this March, thus ramping up generation by about 400MW.
“In the medium-term, we have agreed with the Nigeria Gas and Power Investment Company (NGPIC), a subsidiary of the NNPC on the framework for the overhaul of the Okoloma gas processing plant in River State, thereby restoring the full capacity of the 650MW Afam VI in Port-Harcourt combined cycle power plant,” he said.
The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc was also directed to enter into fast-track negotiation with NAOC on an interim energy sales agreement to bring the new Okpai Il Power Plant in Delta State on the grid, thereby contributing additional 400MW of generation capacity.
Restoring lost output
Giving an update on the progress made so far to address the recent challenges in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), Aliyu cited the restoration of a gas pipeline affected by acts of vandalism.
“The public may please recall that the national grid lost about 1,100MW generation capacity as a consequence of simultaneous disruptions in gas supply to the Okpai, Calabar and the Afam VI power plants.
“The available generation capacity was exacerbated by the ongoing water management regime at the Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro power plants,” he said
He said the Okpai power plant had resumed power generation and is currently contributing an average of 300MW.
“The mitigation measures for avoiding such incidence of blackouts are being implemented through several interventions including the Presidential Power Initiative.
“We wish to reassure all 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,” he said. (NAN)
