By Akintola Omigbodun on First Watch

There are many power sector projects that are being executed by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC. Over the years, the public had been told to expect improvements in the power supply available on the national grid and these improvements were to come from NDPHC projects. The NDPHC has as its owners the Federal Government, FGN, the State Governments, and the Local Governments. The NDPHC projects are collectively described as the National Integrated Power Projects, NIPP.

The NIPP include a number of power generating stations, 330kV and 132kV power transmission lines, new 330kV and 132kV transmission substations and the associated 330kV/132kV and 132kV/33kV transformers, expansion of existing 330kV and 132kV transmission substations and new low-loss injection substations for the power distribution systems.

The power generating stations are named as follows; Ihovbor in Edo State, Calabar in Cross River state, Egbema in Imo State, Olorunsogo in Ogun State, Gbarain in Bayelsa State, Omotosho in Ondo State, Geregu in Kogi State and Omoku in Rivers State.

The power generating stations are the centerpieces of the NIPP and the projects were started during President Obasanjo’s second term, 2003 to 2007. The power generating stations in Ogun State, Ondo State and Kogi State were additional to commitments already made by the FGN at these locations while the others were located in the oil producing states such that the power generating stations would be close to natural gas sources.

All the power generating stations require to be connected to the national grid through the provision of transmission lines and transformers. The NDPHC has indicated that it has achieved over 80% completion of the NIPP but the impact of this completion rate has not been felt on the national grid. The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has suggested that project management failures at NDPHC are responsible for this state of affairs.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has indicated to NERC that it wants an upward review of the existing tariffs for its services. The TCN wants to improve the reliability of the existing system such that it can deliver 7000MW of generated power to the electricity distribution companies. The TCN also wants to expand the power transmission network from its current capacity of 7000MW to 10000MW within a two-year period.

One of the electricity distribution companies, Ikeja Electric, has indicated that its delivery capacity has improved from 750MW to 1000MW since the core investor took over management in November 2013. This suggests that the total capacity of all the electricity distribution companies would be less than 8000MW if a similar level of improvement has been achieved in other electricity distribution companies.

The incoming administration should consider all the above in the determination of what the capacity of the national grid should be at any point in time. The incoming administration should adopt a new strategy for the NIPP. Each power generating station, its associated gas supply and the transmission infrastructure connecting it to the national grid should be considered as one unit. The unit with the earliest completion date should be taken first and all available resources should be concentrated on this unit until it is connected to the national grid. The other units should be considered and brought to completion one after the other.