Five power turbines, four plants shut

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola

Okechukwu Nnodim Abuja

Between Monday and Thursday this week, five power generating turbines and four plants were shut down.

It was gathered that five turbines and a plant were shut down due to gas constraints; one plant stopped functioning as a result of high frequency issues; another suffered line tripping, while the last was out on maintenance.

The power sector operations briefing obtained by our correspondent in Abuja showed that on Thursday, the Shiroro, Gbarain NIPP, and Egbin ST 6 plants were not generating electricity.

“Shiroro is again shut down, this time due to high frequency. The Gbarain NIPP is out due to the tripping of the Alaoji/Owerri 132kV line. Egbin ST 6 is out on maintenance. Jebba is reporting water constraints,” the document stated.

It noted that Shiroro was actually restored to functionality after being shut due to constraints on Wednesday, but noted that this was not sustained.

The document showed that the Gbarain NIPP and Egbin ST 6 had been out of operations since Monday, adding that the “Delta lost functionality in five turbines due to gas constraints. Omotosho is also shut down due to gas constraints.”

The industry’s operational report for May 25 showed that power generation dropped to 3,582.5 megawatts, a development which industry operators attributed to the various constraints in the sector.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria and power generation companies recently explained reasons for the shutdown of power plants as high frequency in the system and gas supply shortages.

The TCN said the shutdown of power plants as a result of high frequency was due to the rejection of electricity load by the electricity distribution firms despite repeated complaints of poor power supply by consumers across the country.

The General Manager, Public Affairs, TCN, Mrs. Seun Olagunju, noted that the company had to ask power generation companies to step down electricity generation following the refusal of the Discos to collect the power allocated to them by the System Operator.