Nigeria: The Fears, Anxiety Of Sustaining Improvement In Power Supply
13 September 2012
Leadership: If all goes as planned, it is expected that by the first quarter (Q1) of 2013, the privatised generating companies would have been taken over by the new investors and expectedly, the Q2 and Q3 of 2013 the recovery of capacities across the various power plants that have been lost for decades would have commenced.
By that time, aggressive rehabilitation programmes, lifetime extension and new capacity projects being undertaken across the nation with a view to improving power supply and stabilising the sector in line with the Power Sector Reform Act of 2005, ought to be visible.
However, in recent weeks, the country has been able to achieve a significant milestone in its power generation history. For the first time, the power sector attained a maximum peak generation of 4,321 megawatts (MW) on August 31, 2012.
It was gathered that in recent weeks, daily generation has been maintained within a range of 4,100MW to 4,200MW, but while this is a remarkable departure from what used to obtain in the past, it remains to be seen if the record can be sustained.
However, analysts have attributed the recent increase seen in power generation to the rise in water levels at the dams, occasioned by the raining season, arguing that it was not necessarily as a result of structured planning. Improvement in power supply they maintained, can only be measured during the dry season.
But according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the increase in power supply is the outcome of the interplay of several crucial factors. Although the Commission agreed that the seasonal higher water inflows in water reservoirs during the months of June, July and August due to the rainy season has resulted in an increase in hydro-generation.