Power sector consistently loses 1,529mw in over three months
Power generation has been losing consistently over 3, 278mwh power on daily basis in the past three months, March –May, 2018, according to Advisory Power Team document, and there are indications that the situation would improve soon.
This has had serious implications on the businesses and employment generations, leading to huge loss of revenue.
During the period under review, the average power loss, on a daily basis, was about 1,529.5 megawatts (MW ) with its attendant financial loss to the country. This financial loss every day is estimated to be about N1,658,000,000 .
The abysmal performance of the sector has been attributed to non-availability of gas to the power plants.
Ebi Omatsola, former group managing director of consolidated Oil, has however suggested a way out of this problem. He suggested that there is need to set target dates to meet power availability to Nigerian households and businesses while gas storage facilities should be encouraged and enhanced at least ninety days capacity at every power plant for the security of supp
Other stakeholders who contributed on the this poor performance of the sector say that power plays prominent role in the economic development of the country .
The gas sector in Nigeria, it is said also needs a driving force that will champion it while operators need virile voice with a common front to forge ahead. They advocated that the huge debt in power sector should be addressed so that gas operators across the country will not be affected due to fund. Debt impedes success in the power industry with multiplier effect on gas.
Meanwhile heavy manufacturing industries, such as cement factories are turning to coal for their power needs because it is readily available, reliable and requires less capital expenditure to mine amid pipeline vandalism and gas shortages, which jeopardise power generation.
In the last 16 months, local cement manufacturers have been reducing power costs and booting operating profit and capacity utilisation by investment in thermal energy generated from coal. Coal provides a reliable source of power and remains the cheapest source of electricity in the world today. However, coal does not presently contribute to Nigeria’s electricity generation in spite of its abundant deposits in Nigeria.
Against the backdrop of severe shortages in much needed supply of electricity, it is inevitable that Nigeria must move from rhetoric to concrete action in the development and addition of coal-fired electricity to the nation’s electricity supply mix.
Two of the biggest cement markers in Nigeria, Dangote Cement Plc and Lafarge Plc have been investing massively in coal as source of energy to power its plants.
“Companies are turning to coal for their energy needs. What we tend to forget is that coal as a major source of energy might not be clean and it is ultimately cheaper to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) rather than coal because of social and environmental concerns” Eddy van Den Broeke, founder of Abuja-based Greenvill Oil and Gas Limited said at a gas development roundtable in Lagos.
Dangote Cement switched to using coal at its cement plants in response to disruption to gas supplies and to lower input costs. The cement producer uses 12,000 metric tonnes (MT/day) of coal. Ashaka Cement, a fully-owned subsidiary of Lafarge Africa, said coal accounted for 82 percent of its power usage over the period, while work is ongoing on its 16-megawatt lignite-fired coal power plant at its factory in Gombe State.