Blackout: FG To Resolve Gas Constraints, Settle GenCos’ Payment Backlog – Minister

The minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has said the federal government is looking into ensuring that outstanding payments are made to power generation  companies (GenCos).

There has been severe power outages in some parts of the country, which distribution companies have said is caused by gas supply constraints to the generation companies, which ultimately reduce the level of

This is as a report shared by the International Energy Agency (IEA), indicated that Nigerians experienced blackouts more in 2023.

Nigeria’s electricity challenges may rather continue with national power grid collapse unabated due to aged infrastructure and underinvestment.

According to a statement the minister’s special adviser, Strategic Communication, Bolaji Tunji, issued at the weekend, the government is taking steps to address the challenge.

“Efforts are on the way by the Federal Government to ensure outstanding payments are made to generation companies, to ensure improved gas supply and increased power generation, this will also enable distribution companies to supply more electricity to Nigerians,” the statement quoted Adelabu as saying.

The minister added: “We acknowledge the current unsustainable situation, and we expect a turnaround immediately.”

Adelabu assured  efforts are being made to ensure a quick resolution of the problem.

“In the past couple of weeks, there has been a significant downturn in the level of power supply to Nigerians.

“This is mainly due to a decreased level of gas supply to generation companies.

“This situation has led to a lower level of energy supplied to load centres, which has affected  supply of electricity to distribution companies.

Meanwhile, the EIA report said the nation’s grid collapsed 46 times from 2017 to 2023, and Nigerians endured more nationwide blackouts in 2023, especially on September 14 when the grid collapsed due to a fire on a major transmission line.

The IEA said Nigeria had grappled with recurrent power failures, totalling 46 grid collapses between 2017 and 2023.

It was said that Nigeria’s grid continued to face issues due to aged infrastructure and vandalism.

Deterioration of power infrastructure, it was learnt, increased dependency on backup generators for 40 per cent of electricity consumption in Nigeria.

“Although the country has a total installed capacity of about 13 GW, average available capacity remained around 4.5 GW in 2023 due to a combination of factors such as deteriorating units, poor maintenance and liquidity constraints.

“Unreliable power supply due to limited grid infrastructure, underinvestment and ineffective regulatory frameworks have resulted in an estimated 40 per cent of all the electricity consumed in the country being produced from backup generators,” IEA declared.

It stated that natural gas accounted for around 75 per cent of electricity generated on the main grid in 2023 and would continue to play an important role in energy supply and grid stabilisation for Nigeria’s power sector until 2030, and decline by 2050, according to the country’s Energy Transition Plan.

“Renewables are also forecast to increase over the 2024-2026 period, at a compound annual growth rate of around eight per cent.

“Hydropower accounts for most of the renewables generation during 2024-2026, largely due to the completion of the Zungeru project, with an estimated generation of 2.6TWh per year.

“Solar PV is expected to grow rapidly, with an average rate of above 50 per cent per year over the next three years,” the report indicated.