Power output crashes to abysmal 727 MW

Power output crashes to abysmal 727 MW

Tuesday, May 26, 2015 9:39 am


Nigeria now in almost total darkness

Nigeria now in almost total darkness

It has only gotten worse, not better for Nigeria as electricity output crashed to an all time, historic low of 727 MW.

When on Friday, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Power said the output had plumetted to 1,327 MW, Nigerians thought they had reached the nadir. But now things have gotten even worse.

According to The Nation newspaper, the collapse at the Shiroro Power Plant was the cause of the latest generation plunge. Shiroro is a 600MW hydro electric plant on River Kaduna in Shiroro, Niger State.

Abuja, Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger states are experiencing an unprecedented load shedding. The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has only 15 Mega Watts (MW).

“Up to about 18.50hours (or 6.50pm), only sensitive installations within the Central Business District of Abuja are on electricity supply,” a source said.

The situation is the same all over the country. In Lagos, offices, including TheNews group have either shut down or scale down operations because they could not get diesel to power their generators. Where available, it is being offered at N500 per litres.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said 18 of the 23 power plants in the country are unable to produce electricity due to shortage of gas supply for the thermal plants.

NERC chairman Dr. Sam Amadi said : “At present, 18 of the 23 power plants in the country are unable to generate electricity due to shortage of gas supply to the thermal plants with one of the hydro stations faced with water management issue. This has led to loss of over 2,000 megawatts in the national grid.”


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