………….Blame Outages on Weak Transmission
Power generation companies (Gencos) in Nigeria have countered the claims of Transmission Company of Nigeria on the reasons for the recent incessant blackouts across the country, blaming the situation on weak infrastructure of transmission.
At a press briefing yesterday, the Gencos said poor transmission which results to poor supply to distribution companies had rendered the quantum of electricity generation in Nigeria inconsequential.
At the briefing conducted by the executive secretary, the Association of Power Generation Companies, Joy Ogaji, kicked against the position of the TCN that the Gencos were to blame for poor power supply nationwide.
It would be recalled that on March 8, 2022, the TCN issued a statement saying that the low power generation in Nigeria is owed to Genco’s inability or refusal to generate power.
The government transmission regulator absolved itself of any responsibility from the ongoing shortage of power supply nationwide. Ogaji stated that that the transmission infrastructure put in place by TCN was weak.
“Since 2013 when the power sector was partially privatized till date, weak and inadequate infrastructure (transmission and distribution) have continued to render inconsequential, a significant portion of the generation capacities recovered or added by Gencos through huge investments to increase their respective generation capacities.
“While the owners of the Gencos invested and increased generation capacity up to 13,000 megawatts across the country, no corresponding investment and improvements were made at the transmission and distribution ends.
“The result was the significant stranded capacity of Gencos, which ironically, Nigerians are in dire need of but cannot get,” the association boss stated.
According to her, the capacity utilization in any market was often used as a measure of productive efficiency, and that decisions about investments in power generating capacity were dependent on expected returns and costs.
“The persistence of this anomaly over these years compelled Gencos to begin to question the commercial reasonability of continued investment in recovery or expansion of generation capacity that would end up being stranded and not utilized to transmit and distribute electricity to end-users who are yearning for same,” she stated.
The association alleged that on the other hand the Gencos were being owed billions of naira by the power market through the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc.
“We reject any attempt to continue to extend the blame game by suggesting that Gencos are responsible for the current state of things in the power sector. Nothing can be farther from the truth than that,” Ogaji stated.
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