The Association of Power Generations Companies, Gencos said on Monday that the quantum of electricity generated in Nigeria is rejected or forced to be reduced by an average of 4,210 megawatts daily due to transmission and distribution constraints.
APGC stated that the forced reduction of generated electricity had dragged on for several years.
According to the association, the supply growth from pre-privatization to date showed that available generation capacity, which was 3,427.5MW had increased by 138.34 per cent to 8,169MW.
Gencos stated that between January and August 2020, they were only allowed to generate 3,959MW, despite an available generation capacity of 8,169MW, thus losing an average of 4,210MW daily.
The APGC also noted that the wellbeing of a power generation company goes beyond efficient operations to include its ability to generate income from power generated.
Gencos disclosed that with a total available installed generation capacity of more than 8,000MW and maximum wheeling capacity of not more than 5,500MW, there would always be a recurring instance of over 2,500MW idle generation which represents capital investment not able to yield revenue.
The association further stated that out of the meagre 5,500MW of transmission wheeling capacity, the Discos had not proven to be able to distribute more than 4,500MW, thus continuously leaving yet another 1,000MW of generation capacity unutilized.
It added that due to the combined technical incapacitation of TCN (Transmission Company of Nigeria) and the Discos, the Gencos are unable to deploy a total of 3,500MW of capacity that would ensure sustainable profitable operation.
“If one considers the fact that the Discos have in the recent past been operating around 3,500MW or below, this figure escalates to 4,000MW of idle capacity.
“In effect, the Gencos are not able to deploy over 4,000MW of idle power.” It said.
APGC further revealed that out of the over 4,000MW wheeled by TCN in the first quarter of 2020, the Discos only remitted an average of 20 per cent (800MW) of this power as revenue to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company. This made a total of 7,200MW generation capacity that was not yielding revenue for the Gencos.
out of the over 4,000MW wheeled by TCN in first quarter of 2020, the Discos only remitted an average of 20 per cent (800MW) of this power as revenue to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company.
The Gencos then concluded that any government that subsidizes 75-80 per cent of distributed power had yet to come to terms with the tenets of privatization.
