Nigeria’s 26 power plants’ capacity drops by 70%

Industry statistics have shown a drop in the combined generation capacity of Nigeria’s 26 power plants by 70 per cent.

In correspondence with the latest data sourced from the Nigeria Industry Supply Industry, the capacity of the plants dropped from a total of 13,461 megawatts to 4,022MW as of when they were last tested in July 2021.

A breakdown of the data showed that the four hydro plants under the Power Purchase Agreement such as Kainji plant (hydro) with an original 760MW capacity, had approximately 153MW capacity as of July last year, while Jebba with 576MW capacity, had 332MW.

Shiroro plant with a nameplate capacity of 600MW already dropped to 248MW, while Mabon with 40MW capacity did not generate any power as of the last review date.

Azura’s capacity also went from 450MW to 421MW, Agip dropped from 465MW to 29MW, Shell from 650MW to 287MW, Olorunsogo from 304MW to 195MW, and Omotosho also dropped from 304MW to 254MMW.

The last batch of eight gas plants under the National Integrated Power Project such as Geregu, Sapele Alaoji, Olorunsogo, Omotosho, Ihovbor, Calabar, and Gbarain nameplate capacities formerly at 434MW, 450MW, 960MW, 675MW, 500MW, 450MW, 563MW, and 225MW respectively, witnessed a crash in capacities to 77MW, 33MW, 58MW, 23MW, 43MW, 17MW, and 236MW respectively.

The government-owned gas plants still under the PPA such as Ibom Power, OmokuFIPL, Trans Amadi FIPL, and Afam FIPL, generation capacities went from 190MW, 150MW, 130MW, 360MW with Eleme not generating into the grid, to 13MW, 31MW, 76MW, and 65MW respectively.

Total capacity of all the plants which was put at 13,461mw at the beginning, dropped to a low of 4,022MW as of July 2021.

Report of the drop in capacity of the plants comes to fore as Nigerians await the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s promise to deliver at least 5000MW of electricity to Nigerians starting from July 1.

The country’s power generation had, as of last month, crashed to an all-time low of 9MW per day.