800 Megawatts of Generated Electricity Stranded in Eastern Nigeria

Fri, Jun 12, 2015

By publisher

3 MIN READ

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The Niger Delta Power Holding Company has to recover stranded 800 megawatts of the electricity from the eastern loop to help to improve power supply in the country

|  By Anayo Ezugwu  |  Jun 22, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT  |

THE Niger Delta Power Holding Company of Nigeria, NDPHC, managers of the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, must recover more than 800 megawatts, MW, of electricity generated which are stranded in some of its power plants within the eastern supply loop if the power supply problem in the country is to improve.  The NDPHC on Monday, June 8, began an evaluation tour of its electricity transmission projects in the eastern axis, which had been held back from completion by alleged sundry sabotage of work on the projects. The new effort is aimed at sorting out extant holdbacks to the projects’ completion timeline and wheeling of generated electricity from power plants in the axis which are said to now generate, but cannot wheel out their outputs to the national grid.

Delays in completion of the almost 200 kilometres eastern transmission loop stretching from Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State to Ugwuaji in Enugu State for almost two years resulted in supply shut-in as well as project cost overrun. Officials of NDPHC told journalists during the evaluation tour across the affected states that there are about 45 instances of sabotage on its transmission projects on the eastern axis in the form of repeated community and institutional encroachments on transmission Rights of Way as well as court orders stopping their contractors from going ahead with work.

The transmission lines ran along Egbema, a border town between Imo and Rivers States and should evacuate power generated from the 330MW Egbema and 563MW Calabar, Odukpani power plants. But the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan said it almost completed all the power projects it initiated before leaving office on May 29.

According to a document from the office of Namadi Sambo, former vice president, most of the power projects the administration initiated under the NIPP have been completed, while others are near completion. According to the document, the 560 MW Calabar Power Station, combined 900 MW power plants by Benin Generation Company and Ogorode in Edo and Delta states, respectively, are awaiting official commissioning.

It also stated that power plants in Gbarain, Bayelsa State; Omoku Power Station in Rivers State and Egbema Power Station in Imo State are at various advanced stages of completion. Sambo stated that under the Phase I of the project mandate of the NDPHC government have completed several power projects including the 434mw Geregu II power plant in Kogi State; 500 mw Omotosho II power plants in Ondo State; 750mw Olorunsogo II power plant in Ogun State and 504 mw Phase I Alaoji thermal power stations in Abia State.

According to Sambo, the NDPHC has also delivered several power transmission projects in Lagos State, including “a new 330kV Gas Insulated Substations (GIS) at Aja and the extension of the existing 132kVGIS there with 150MVA and 100MVA Transformers as well as the Lekki 132kV GIS with 2x60MVA Transformers.

“All these projects have been completed and already in service. Oke Aro 330/132/33kV substation, one of NIPPs several interventions within Lagos and Ogun states in these regards was equipped with large capacity 2nos 300MVA 330/132kV transformers, making the station the first of its kind in the grid with a total transformation capacity of 600MVA at the 330kV level. A 75MVAR 330kV shunt reactor was also installed for effective grid voltage control,” Sambo said.

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