Blackout as Nigeria’s Power Grid Collapses Third Time in Five Days

•FG vows to push power generation capacity to 20,000mw by 2026

•Says so much investments made in sector since privatisation with no marked improvement

•Adelabu: I am determined to make impact in power sector 

•Diesel price hits N1,100 per litre

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Peter Uzoho in Lagos

The nation’s power grid collapsed for the third time in five days yesterday, with electricity generation dropping from a peak of 3,594.60 megawatts (MW) at midnight to a meagre 42.7mw at 12 noon.

This occurred just as the federal government promised to take urgent steps to reform and grow the nation’s power sector, vowing specifically to ramp up electricity generation capacity to at least 20,000 megawatts (mw) in the next three years.

Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, made the pledge yesterday, in Lagos, while delivering his welcome address during the Leadership Summit of the Nigeria Energy Exhibition and Conference 2023.

Also, it emerged yesterday, that the price of diesel has climbed to N1,100 per litre.

The Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers’ Association of Nigeria (NOGASA) disclosed this in a statement yesterday.

NOGASA President, Mr. Benneth Korie, said diesel has witnessed incessant hike in prices in recent months, a development he said was worsened by marketers’ inability to secure bank loans that would enable them restock.

Korie lamented that the rapidly-rising diesel price was evidently causing hardships in haulage transportation and commuting alike.

“NOGASA is worried about the ugly development and trying to understand why prices of diesel are going as high as N950 to N1,100 per litre in the market with a view to moderating the prices and shocks in the economy,” he added.

Korie advised that the Nigerian refineries should be given emergency attention by the government to ensure rising energy cost does not murder the economy.

Data from the National System Operator ((NSO), a unit in TCN, yesterday, indicated that only the Delta Power plant was active on the grid at noon, with 41mw, while Afam had 1.7mw.

Nigeria, a nation of over 200 million persons, barely manages to generate and distribute between 3,500 mw and 4,500mw on a daily basis.

The breakdown of the national grid resulted in a nationwide blackout, leaving many Nigerians without electricity.

The World Bank estimates that businesses in the country suffer an annual loss of $29 billion as a result of “unreliable” electricity, with majority of Nigerians reluctant to pay their electricity bills because the bills are not “transparent and clear.”

“Businesses in Nigeria lose about $29 billion annually because of unreliable electricity. Nigerian utilities get paid for only a half of electricity they receive,” the report read.

“Six in 10 of registered customers are not metered, and their electricity bills are not transparent and clear. This contributes to resistance to pay electricity bills,” the bank said in a report.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had yet to issue a statement explaining the cause of the latest collapse when this story was being put together.

The problem started earlier on Tuesday when supply dropped from 3,594.60 megawatts (MW) at about 1:00 am, while it slumped to a meagre 42.7MW at the point of writing this report.

However, at about 6pm yesterday evening, the system had been restored 1,662 mw, an indication that the grid was being restored gradually.

The last national grid collapse was caused by a fire at the Kainji/Jebba 330kV line 2, causing outage nationwide. Before then, the TCN had celebrated over 421 days of consistent grid stability.

FG Vows to Push Power Generation Capacity to 20,000mw by 2026

The federal government has promised to take urgent steps to reform and grow the nation’s power sector, vowing specifically to ramp up electricity generation capacity to at least 20,000 megawatts (mw) in the next three years.

Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, stated this in Lagos, while delivering his welcome address during the Leadership Summit of the Nigeria Energy Exhibition and Conference 2023.

Adelabu while lamenting the humongous investments made in the power sector since privatisation with no marked improvement, declared his determination to make positive impacts in the sector.

“As a politician, as a minister of power, I also have a limited amount of time to spend, and I must make impacts. I am determined to make impacts. I’ve diagnosed the issues to a large extent, and I’ve found out that the solutions are not as difficult as we all believe.

“In setting targets for ourselves, we also need to set short-term targets. My own vision is for us to increase the stored capacity of our generation to at least 20,000 megawatts in the next three years. And it doesn’t stop there.

“We should be able to evacuate and transport this power at the minimum of 80 per cent of the stored capacity to the end users of the exchange system. Then the last issue there is we need to ramp up our investments in collection technology,” Adelabu said.

Stressing the need to quickly close the metering gap in the country, which he put at over eight million, the minister added that all households, small businesses, government institutions, and industries must be properly metered so that everybody accounts for the power usage and able to pay for it.

He said the Ministry of Power was focused on the balanced energy developments that drive socio-economic transformation, thus satisfying the future utility and sustainable development needs of energy security, sustainability, and affordability.

“Thus, as we convene here today, we are united by a common purpose to address the critical challenges and seize immense opportunities in the energy sector in Nigeria.

“The goal of this conference is not just to discuss these challenges, but to collaborate and implement concrete actions that will lead us towards a brighter and more sustainable energy future. We must help one another understand the power of strategic collaborations in this vital sector. This conference should not just be another talk show,” he added.

He challenged participants at the conference to arrive at workable solutions to resolve the highly technical challenges facing the power and leverage the opportunities provided at this conference to address them.

According to him, those challenges also lie in critical opportunities, such as unleashing

power from renewable energy sources like solar, hydro, and wind, which would not only reduce the country’s carbon footprint in terms of emission, but also create jobs and stimulate economic growth.

He added that investing in cutting-edge technologies and innovative solutions that could transform the way Nigeria produce, transmit, distribute, and consume power was also important.

The minister maintained that collaborating, sharing knowledge, and building partnerships that transcend borders and ideologies were equally needed by all stakeholders in order to make positive changes in the power sector.

Amid the subsidy removal and the challenge it brought upon the people, Adelabu noted that there were opportunities in the policy which included cleaning the transport system with electric vehicle and hydraulic technology.

Recalling that the Nigeria power sector was privatised a decade ago to establish a competitive market intended to improve management and efficiency, the minister that the regime had led to significant gains, advanced private investments, increased generation, and provided reliable and cost-efficient power supply to Nigeria’s nationwide.

He explained, “Although some progress has been made across the power sector, there still remains a huge gap, especially in delivering adequate and stable power supply to consumers nationwide. Let me tell you about this for instance.

“The truth of the matter is, all these progress that we have seen, they still remain an effort if energy that is reliable and affordable cannot reach the end consumers, i.e., households, small businesses, institutions, and industries.

“I’m highly glad that in the recent past, stakeholders in the sector, particularly experts and investors, have demonstrated reasonable interest and confidence in transforming the sector.”

The minister also expressed confident that impact would soon be felt by all Nigerians from the power sector.

He emphasised that the Nigeria Electricity Act 2023, which was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on the 8th of June 2023, was a testament to the administration’s commitment to transforming the electricity landscape in Nigeria.

Adelabu further said, “As a game changer, that will promote the nuclear energy supply chain in Nigeria, the Act will conduct an agenda to reduce assets of electricity, enhance regulatory oversight, clean energy transition, improve sales delivery, and infrastructure development.

“In particular, the Act will stimulate economic growth by creating a conducive environment for investment and competition.

“It will generate job opportunities, encourage entrepreneurship, and attract foreign direct investments. Let us work together to implement this legislation effectively, ensuring that its benefits are realised by all.

“On this note, let me emphasise that there is a good ecosystem in the nuclear energy supply chain, and I am confident that we will continue to work together to support companies’ journeys towards a more sustainable energy future.

“I urge you all to engage in meaningful discussions at this conference, network with fellow participants, and arrive at decisions, innovations, and partnerships that will not only benefit our nation, but also contribute to the global efforts to combat climate change and ensure a better quality of life for all.

“Together, we can find Nigeria into a brighter and more prosperous future for which our government is committed. This is one very important sector that our ever-working President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been a key player in the transition to a more sustainable, easier world.

“As chosen to drive our much-desired economic growth and industrial development, we cannot afford to fail him in these transformation efforts,” he added.

He also pointed out that Nigeria’s short-term plan to achieve 30,000MW of electricity by 2030 and long-term plan of 60,000MW by 2060 was possible.

While that target was possible to achieve, the minister said another important task would be how to get the generated energy to end users.

He said if the country cannot transmit as much as 80-85 per cent of the generated power through the distribution companies (Discos) and get it to the customers, then the country was just wasting investments.

Adelabu added: “Beyond improving our transmission and distribution infrastructures, we must invest in metering technology. Today, we have over eight-million-meter gap in Nigeria.

“If we can reduce or eliminate this gap and come up with technology to ensure that connections are monitored and we are able to collect not less than 90 per cent of power distributed, of course, liquidity is assured in this country.

“This is an industry that I believe is even bigger than the telecoms industry. Look at the telecom operators across all the segments in the value chain, all of them have a good and successful story to tell.

“The same should happen with the power sector. From the gas companies to the power generating companies to the transmitters to the discourse, we must be telling good stories.”

He added that the industry was in dire need of liquidity to thrive, noting that the issue of vandalisation of power equipment, bypassing of meters and damages to government properties were criminal practices that the operators and other stakeholders should collaborate to address.