TheCable

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says the drop in power generation could have been triggered by the continuous rejection of load by distribution companies.

NAN reports that the corporation disclosed this in a statement signed by Ndu Ughamadu, the group general manager, group public affairs division, on Wednesday.

Ughamadu said power generation dropped by 712MW on August 13, adding that output from all the hydropower plants and some gas-fired stations, including Egbin in Lagos, suffered decline.

“The prevailing significant drop in power generation was mainly due to three factors namely: a reduction in power generation by the three hydro power plants by 434MW due to frequency management issues arising from continuous rejection of load by the DisCos,” the statement read.

“Also, a drop in power generation by some gas fired power plants generation by 278MW mainly due to frequency management as a result of rejection of load by DisCos; and the shut-down of the Gbarain power plant due to a trip-off at the Alaoji/Owerri 132KV lines 1 and 2.’’

He reassured Nigerians of the availability of enough gas for power generation, noting that the recent drop in electricity generation was as a result of factors outside NNPC’s control.

He said in spite of improved gas supply which picked up after a temporary setback due to a hitch at one of its joint venture partners’ operated fields, the gas grid was still experiencing low offtake by the generating companies (GenCos).

This, he said, was as a result of load rejection by the DisCos.

He said power evacuation still remained a major challenge across the value chain with an average of 1800MW unutilized generation capacity weekly due to frequency management and line constraints.