A Blueprint for Power Generation in Nigeria – Ojedokun, Olu &
Okoronkwo, Hillary
The President of Nigeria retired Army Major General Muhammadu
Buhari was sworn in on the 29th May 2015, he indicated his commitment
to building new Power Plants to increase the generation of electricity to
the population of over 170million population currently experiencing epileptic
power supply. We note some improvements have occurred but the situation still
falls far short of the expectations for the largest economy in Africa.
The Resources:
The current reality is that Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa and
its potential for further growth has been hamstrung by the lack of adequate
power generation. Most sectors of the
economy rely on power generating plants fuelled at huge costs in order
to remain operative.
A significant source of electricity power generation in Nigeria’s is
through the hydro. Kainji built in 1968
was the first one followed by Jebba Dam built in 1985 and Shiroro built in
1990. In 2012 the Zamfara Power Station was built. The
following Kano, Kiri, Mambilla are under construction[i].
However, in recent years fossil fuel has become a significant component
of power generation, the following power stations are in various degrees of
operation:
AES Barge, Aba, Afam IV-V, Afam VI, Alaoji, Calabar, Egbema, Egbin, Geregu 1, Geregu 11, Ibom, Ihovbor, Okpai,
Olorunsogo, Olorunsogo 11, Omoku, Omoku 11, Omotosho 1, Omotosho 11, Sapele,
Sapele (NIPP), Transcorp Ughelli and Itobe[ii].
As of December 2013,
the total installed or nameplate capacity (maximum capacity) of
the power plants was 6,953 MW. Available capacity was 4,598 MW. Actual average generation was 3,800 MW (2013
Year In Review, Presidential Task Force on Power, Pg. 16)
As of
December 2014, the total installed capacity of the power plants was 7,445 MW.
Available capacity was 4,949 MW (2014 Year In Review, Presidential Task Force
on Power, Pg. 53). Actual average generation was less than 3,900 MW. The
Presidential Task Force on Power's peak demand forecast is 12,800 MW (April
2015).
The Problem:
Many of
the newly built power plants are non-functioning
due to the inability to fuel these facilities and integrate generated Power into
the national grid. There is also the fact that current legislation places electricity generation and distribution as solely a function of the
Federal Government in Nigeria.
The current power generation capacity in Nigeria is less than a quarter
of what is needed to provide regular power supply for residential and business
needs. There are many factors that affect
electricity generation in Nigeria, the major ones include but not limited to:
(i) The Niger Delta crisis, which leads to the vandalisation of
oil and gas pipe
lines, oil gas exploration and exploitation facilities.
(ii) The kidnapping of foreign and indigenous professionals that
manned oil and
gas facilities in Nigeria resulting into abandoning of oil and
gas exploration.
(iii) The inability of Nigeria
government in collaboration with oil multinational companies to utilise fully
the gas, due to gas flaring. The gas is a good source of energy for the
generation of electricity (International Journal of Engineering and
Mathematical Intelligence, Vol. 1 Nos. 1 & 3, 2010 161)
(iv) Low level of annual
rainfall in Nigeria due to global warming which leads to
global climate change
that affects water level at hydro generation stations. Reliance on Hydro can be
constrained by the volume of water available during the period of draught and
during the months of March to June when water level goes down (Sada, 2007).
(v) Lack of water management in Nigeria is affecting water level
at the hydro generation stations.
(vi) Bribery, Corruption and Mismanagement in the power sector.
(vii) The absence of research and development in Nigeria, which
focuses on investigating the different types of electricity generating
potentials in Nigeria and how to utilise them. The research and development in
the area of electricity generation, transmission and distribution can help in
collecting data and offer
services to government and private investors in the
power sector.
(viii) Non diversification of existing electricity generating
potentials in Nigeria. Nigeria only utilises oil, gas and dams for electricity
generation. There are other alternative potentials existing such as renewable
sources of energy (solar, wind, biomass) and nuclear which can supplement the
existing hydro, oil and gas generating potentials. According to the Katsina
State Government, it has started investing in the electricity generation using
wind and Bio-mass sources.
(ix) There is a poor planned maintenance culture, in which
fixed-time maintenance are never carried out regularly. Good maintenance culture
lead to availability of electricity utilities in which electricity power is
made available to consumers
almost all the time (Oroge, 1991).
The sector
cannot be maintained if they do not have enough funds to buy the needed spare
parts and pay for their running cost. Good maintenance culture is very
essential in keeping any physical systems, such as electricity generation,
transmission and distribution networks in operational readiness. Maintenance of
electricity utilities is a combination of any action carried out to retain the utilities
in or restore them to normal operational standard. Basically, maintenance can
be classified into two categories, namely; planned maintenance and unplanned
maintenance. In Nigeria electricity power sector, unplanned maintenance are
normally carried out after systems failure and is normally carried out without
any forethought, control and records.
(x) The electricity consumers in Nigeria are highly indebted to
the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) due to poor electricity delivery,
none settlement of electricity bills, corruption by bill collectors. Illegal
connections and high maintenance cost of equipment due to vandalisation by
thieves, wind also lead to low revenue generation by Power Holdings Company of
Nigeria.
(xi) Failing down of electricity transmission and distribution
lines by winds as well as vandalisation of these lines by thieves, construction
works, fluid, soil erosion. (International
Journal of Engineering and Mathematical Intelligence, Vol. 1 Nos. 1 & 3,
2010 162)
(xii) The transmission line losses due to long distances between generating stations
and load centres. The electrical power losses of the 330KV transmission lines,
in Nigeria with and without compensation is given on table 2 (Yusuf, Boyi and
Muazu, 2007).
Table 1:
Electricity generating stations, ratings and their locations in Nigeria
Station
|
Type
|
No. of Units
|
Installed Capacity
|
|
Kainji
|
Hydro
|
8
|
KVout
|
MWout
|
16.0
|
760
|
|||
Afam I-III
|
Gas Turbine
|
12
|
10.5
|
260
|
Afam IV
|
Gas Turbine
|
6
|
11.5
|
450
|
Afam V
|
Gas Turbine
|
5
|
11.5
|
760
|
Egbin
|
Steam Turbine
|
6
|
16.0
|
1320
|
Egbin
|
Gas Turbine
|
9
|
11.5
|
270
|
Jebba
|
Hydro
|
6
|
16.0
|
570
|
Sapele
|
Steam Turbine
|
6
|
16.0
|
720
|
Sapele
|
Gas Turbine
|
4
|
10.5
|
300
|
Shiroro
|
Hydro
|
4
|
16.0
|
400
|
Delta II
|
Gas Turbine
|
6
|
11.5
|
120
|
Delta III
|
Gas Turbine
|
6
|
11.5
|
120
|
Delta IV
|
Gas Turbine
|
6
|
11.5
|
600
|
Source: (Nigeria Society of
Engineers Technical Transactions, 2007, Vol. 42, No. 1, p27).
Suggested Solutions [iii]:
It should be noted that Electricity generation, transmission and
distribution are three stages of delivering electricity to consumers.
The experts estimate that the millions of cubic feet of gas wasted daily
and the flared gas in the Niger Delta oil producing parts of Nigeria are
capable of providing electricity to the entire continent of Africa.
It is reported the President is interested in solving this electricity
problem by engaging a reputable international company to build new Power Plants
to generate enough electricity for over 170 million Nigerians.
(i) The restructuring of the Nigerian radial interconnected electricity generation
station grid system, which has National Control Centre at Oshogbo, and replacing it with a regional interconnected grid system in order to reduce transmission
line losses and improve reliability of the Nigerian grid system.
(ii) The Government should diversify the sources of fuel for
electricity generating stations. Nigeria has abundance coal reserve, Uranium,
bio-mass, wind potentials, which can be used for generating electricity instead
of relying only on gas, oil and hydro potentials.
(iii) The loading of transmission and distribution transformers
should be reduced. This is in order to trim down the number of consumers per
transformer to a ratio of about 10 consumers per distribution transformer.
(iv) Illegal connections should be discouraged by the electricity power
stakeholders.
(v) The electricity consumers in Nigeria should show patriotism
through prompt settlement of electricity bills.
(vi) The successful governments in Nigerian have to be more
committed to the execution of good developmental projects left behind by past administrations.
(vii) A consumer friendly billing system should be developed by
the appropriate government agencies.
(viii) The bureaucracies surrounding the procurement of
electricity meters should be jettisoned to encourage consumers to pay and have
their meters within a reasonable period of time.
[i] Kainji and Jebba Dams, Niger River,
Nigeria Accessed on 27th April 2015 from
http://www.sarafinchin.com/index.php/projects/africa/kainji-and-jebba-dams-niger-river-nigeria/
[ii] List of Power Stations in Nigeria
accessed on 26th April 2015 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Nigeria
[iii] Sule,
A. H. (2011) Major Factors Affecting
Electricity Generation, Transmission and Distribution in Nigeria Accessed on 27th
April 2015 from http://www.icidr.org/ijemi_vol1no1-3_2011/Major%20Factors%20Affecting%20Electricity%20Generation,%20Transmission%20and%20Distribution%20in%20Nigeria.pdf
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