Power sector loses 142mw due to water constraint

Constraint caused by shortage of gas to power reduced from 4,307 Mega Watts (MW) of August 5 to 3,967MW on Sunday. On the day under review, the Nigeria Electricity System Operator (SO) of the Transition Company of Nigeria (TCN) sent out 3175MW to the 11 distribution companies (DisCos).

The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) that made this disclosure on its website yesterday, reported that line constraint was 240MW. It noted that water constraint that was 142MW rose marginally by 1MW.

All the constraints, on the day under review, said NESI, resulted in loss of an estimated equivalent of N2,088, 000, 000 on August 07 2016 due to constraints.

It said: “On August 07 2016, average power sent out was 3175MWh/hour (up by 27MWh/h). The reported gas constraint was 3967MW. The reported line constraint was 240MW according to TCN. The water management constraint was 143MW.

The power sector lost the estimated equivalent of N2,088,000,000 on August 07 2016 due to constraints.”
It would be recalled that the power sector that did not report any constraint due to water supply for over a month, first said that on August 5, it recorded 142Mega Watts (MW) water constraint.

Although the spokesperson of the company, Mrs. Seun Olagunju did not receive our Abuja correspondent phone call to inquire what led to the water constrain, The Nation learnt that it was due to some undisclosed mechanical issues in the Kainji Hydro Power Station.

The source that spoke to The Nation in confidence said that “they (TCN) are doing as much as they can possibly do with the mechanical constraint.”

Another source said that the company was trying to be more efficient by not using all its water and make some reservation for other days.

He said: “They are restricting the water because they want it to last. There are two options with an hydro electric dam. You can use all the water when you have it. You can manage it so that the day you don’t have water you have water in storage. They are not even using all their water.”

According to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) website that published the power performance daily summary, on the day under review, the Nigerian Electricity System Operator (SO) sent out 3,135MW to the 11 distribution companies.

The report however noted that the sector recorded 265MW line constraint.

All the losses, said the NESI, was an estimate of N2.7billion.

It said: “On August 05 2016, average power sent out was 3135MWh/hour (up by 59MWh/h). The reported gas constraint was 4307MW. The reported line constraint was 265MW according to TCN. The water management constraint was 142MW.

“The power sector lost the estimated equivalent of N2,263, 000, 000 on August 05 2016 due to constraints.”

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