Power generation companies (GenCos) in the country have decried some of the regulatory policy regime on the sector which now made it impossible for their plants to operate optimally and threatening their investments.
Making the position of the GenCos known in an email to some journalists, the Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies (), Dr Joy Ogaji, attributed the primary challenges hampering the optimization of the companies plants’ capacities to transmission and distribution.
Ogaji stated: “Specifically, generation companies are pinned down by some operational impediments. The frequency of instructions to either increase load or decrease load (ramp up and ramp down) and, in some cases, shut down, has induced damaging stresses to the components of the machines.
“These instructions, reflective of the grid behaviour, are subjecting key electrical components of the power plants to operational stresses. Our available generation has always been steady between 7,500MW and 8,000MW; you can check the records at the National Control Centre, Osogbo.”
“Some of the machines, for instance, with 145MW capacity, are subjected by the NCC to operate at 70MW, if not less on daily average, which constitutes 50 per cent base load value”, she added.
The industry top player lamented, however, that the generation plants were now being used as regulating power reserve by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) through its subsidiary, the System Operator/NCC, to stabilise the national grid.
Ogaji stated that despite recommendations by experts for procurement of regulating and spinning reserve and other tools to be developed to manage the grid to the mandatory free governor mode, the TCN refused to act on the professional advice but rather has been forcing the Gencos to operate outside factory capability.
Noting further that all the thermal and hydro power plants are designed to operate optimally and efficiently at base load, the industry player pointed out that operating the plants far away from their base load implies a reduction in efficiency.
In addition, she explained that this would also result in increase in consumption of gas for the thermal plants by as much as 15 to 20 per cent, an extra cost not recognised by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc or captured in the Multi-Year Tariff Order.
She listed other constraints to the GenCos’ operational capacity to include, non-payment for deemed capacity, non-payment of all monies accruable to the Gencos from all international customers, and inconsistencies in the regulator’s framework also constitute challenges that need to be surmounted, amongst others.
