Saturday, 29 December 2012

Will 4,500mw guarantee stable power supply?

Culled from BusinessDay Newspaper of 27/12/012
 
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said that in fulfilment of President Goodluck Jonathan’s promise for improved electric power delivery to Nigerians, a new power generation peak of 4,502.2 megawatts (mw) has been achieved.
According to officials of the company, this new generation peak is an improvement on the 4,454.1mw attained on Wednesday, December 19, 2012, and assured that as gas supply continues to improve and more National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) come on stream, the transmission and distribution companies will continue to harness every available generation to ensure that stable electricity supply is delivered to  customers.
In a release, Olusola Akinniranye, CEO, TCN, says the company is not relenting in its efforts to continue to strengthen the transmission grid, noting that efforts are presently ongoing to restore the Benin-Egbin 330kV line as well as complete the new transmission – distribution interface projects, which will further enhance the company’s power evacuation capacity.
The TCN therefore appeals to all citizens of the nation to continue to partner it in protecting electricity installations nation-wide. The need to forestall any act of vandalism, it said, is vital in the transmission and sustenance of power generated, as vandalism constitutes major setback in the improvement of power supply situation in the country.
The current status of the transmission network capabilities is inefficient and grossly inadequate.
The radial transmission structure does not allow for system reliability, this coupled with irregular maintenance and lack of facility upgrade have incapacitated the network from functioning, thereby resulting in high technical loses.
For the transmission system to however fully satisfy its industrial customers, the power system value chain - generation, transmission and distribution - should all have sufficient capacity, reliability and availability to meet the needs of all industrial customers, irrespective of location and load demand
The transmission network has been encumbered by series of  problem ranging from technical issues and political intrigues, which delayed the taking over of the company  by Manitoba, the company contracted to manage the network for three year.
The president had to intervene before the letter that would enable the company take over the management of  the company could be forwarded to him for him to append his  signature.
The Bureau for Public Procurement had insisted that there were some anomalies in the contract document  and  therefore  urged  the government to cancelled it.

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