By Chidi Ugwu
An electricity industry expert, Professor Stephen Ogaji, on Thursday declared that Nigeria losses a whooping $28 billion annually to electricity outages from grid collapses and disturbances.
Prof. Ogaji, who disclosed this at the 2024 Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) Media Engagement and
Training in Abuja, stated that data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) shows that from 2013 to 2020, the national grid system failed 84 times and partially collapsed 43 times, while the World Bank data on countries with the most electricity outages in Africa showed that in 2019 alone, Nigeria suffered outages for 191 days out of 365.
“The economic cost of power shortages in the country is estimated at around $28 billion annually- equivalent to two percent (2%) of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP)” he said.
According him, the country records great loss in revenue due to the inability to generate power into the grid, stressing that the scenario affects not only the utilities but also the entire economic system that depends on a stable power supply.
According to him, a recent study revealed that energy losses due to grid collapse and shutdowns at Odukpani NIPP, due to frequent shutdown and startup instructions from NCC and grid collapse (Turbine Trip), in the past six months was humongous.
“Frequent Startup and Shutdowns result in ineffective utilization of gas during the startup process through FSNL, about 25mins, decreasing the Energy Generated to Gas consumption ratio as well as decreasing Thermal Efficiency.
“During the shutdown process, a gas that has already entered the system may not be fully combusted or utilized and will be vented out thereby causing a waste of gas.
“Also, turbines operate at high temperatures, and when they shut down, the heat energy dissipates without being converted to power, thereby resulting in power losses.
“Due to the FIRM Gas Supply Agreement (GSA) of Take or Pay (ToP), If the gas is not utilised, it results in serious financial losses to GenCo.
“Without a backup Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) contract, the business can fold from much accumulated costs for gas payments that may even expire”.
Ogaji further disclosed that due to the incessant outages key components such Combustion liners, Flow sleeves, Crossfire tubes, Fuel nozzles, Flexible (pigtail) hoses, Gas turbine first stage bucket, shrouds, among others are impacted by thermal fatigues, adding that the resultant damage to these hardwares takes millions of Dollars to fix.
He therefore offered key recommendations urging that NERC should approve the procurement of Ancillary Services that provides secondary controls (Spinning Reserve
“The System operator should as a matter of urgency complete and commission the SCADA project to enable them to oversee all the power systems properly,
“The System operator should put in effect the earlier proposed Generation Dispatch Tool (GDT),
“The System operator should implement and enforce all the provisions of the Grid Code,
“From the foregoing, it is an established fact that there is an urgent need to take proactive actions to prevent the incessant disruption of normal grid operation and, by extension, improve the lives and performance of thermal gas turbines.
“Failure to do so, may lead to reduced plant availability as spares are not locally sourced and cost of generation will be astronomically high, even beyond the current 59% average contribution to end user cost” he concluded.
