Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, has explained reasons behind the recent poor power supply, citing hydro capacity during dry season and maintenance work at gas plants.

Since February, most parts of the country have been experiencing poor power supply — worse than it used to be.

The minister at a press briefing Thursday in Abuja said the outage experienced around the country is being addressed through three approaches.

“I would like to discuss the increased load shedding you may have observed in Abuja and other areas in the country. With the reduction in hydro capacity during the dry season, additional load needs to be taken up by our gas plants,” he said.

“We are having maintenance work in the Eastern Axis around Odukpani leading to reduced power supply from the usually reliable NDPHC Calabar Power Plant and we are having challenges at Okoloma Gas Station linked to Afam VI power plant.

“We are working with NNPC and other gas suppliers also to improve the pressure on the Western Axis that is precluding units from reaching optimum supply.”

In addressing the challenges, the minister said the government is working on more gas supply contracts for the power sector backed by improved funding. He said the contracts will have stiff financial penalties for underperformance.

He also said there will be an increased energy mix to improve energy security.

“We will complete the Zungeru Hydro plant, the Katsina Wind plant, Kashimbila Hydro as well as ensure the challenges with Gurara are permanently resolved (partnering with the Ministry of Water). We are also working to resolve issues that have prevented large on-grid solar from taking off in Nigeria.

“We are re-tooling the system operator for improved dispatch optimization based on technologies and improved maintenance schedule alignments across generators.

“The challenges have been identified and we have short term solutions as well as long term solutions,” he said.

PT