TheNewsGuru

Tag: Power Supply

  • Again, FG seeks $5bn loan from World Bank to boost power supply

    Investigations have shown that the Federal Government is seeking a loan of $5bn from the World Bank Group to boost power supply in the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the World Bank had in April stated that a powerful delegation from Nigeria was in Washington DC to discuss assistance for the nation’s power sector, but did not disclose the details of the talks.

    According to a report by The Punch, those present at the April 25, 2017, meeting in Washington DC were the Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Steel and Metallurgy, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe; and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power, Mr. Dan Asuquo.

    At the end of the meeting, the World Bank Group had said that it would deploy a full range of instruments to mobilise investments to resolve Nigeria’s energy crisis.

    The Director of Operations at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, an arm of the World Bank Group, Sarvesh Suri, said a full range of instruments would be deployed to help the government mobilise investments directly from the private sector and through private sector guarantees.

    According to the Debt Management Office, out of Nigeria’s external debt of $13.81bn as of March 31, 2017, the World Bank Group had a portfolio of $6.93bn.

    This means that the World Bank holds more than 50 percent of the country’s external debt portfolio.

    However, if the loan is approved, Nigeria’s indebtedness to the World Bank would rise to about $11bn, excluding other smaller loans that have been approved after the March 31 accounting date.

    The bank had in 2014 announced $1.19bn guarantees meant to lift the nation’s electricity sector.

    The Board of Executive Directors of three arms of the World Bank approved the package of loans and guarantees supporting a series of energy projects to help boost independent power generation and ease crippling energy shortages in Nigeria.

    It said the projects were critical elements of the World Bank Group Energy Business Plan for Nigeria.

    The World Bank, International Finance Corporation and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency’s World Bank partial risk guarantees approved included $245m for the 459 Megawatt Azura Edo Power Plant near Benin City, Edo State; and $150m for the 533MW Qua Iboe plant in Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State. Both plants are gas-fired.

    The Boards of the IFC and MIGA approved loans and hedging instruments worth $135m and guarantees of up to $659m for the Azura Edo project.

    The IBRD guarantees included forward-looking mitigation and risk-sharing arrangements designed to augment the country’s power sector reforms, while building market confidence and setting industry benchmarks.

    The IFC investment and MIGA’s guarantee for the Azura Edo power plant were to support a trailblazing project at the centre of Nigeria’s power sector programme, while setting a replicable model for future power projects.

    The bank said addressing energy needs in Nigeria required investment from the public and private sectors, adding that working with the World Bank Group could help catalyse significant private investment in an environment that best assured successful delivery of increased power supply.

  • Nationwide power supply worsens as fire engulfs TCN control room

     

    The country may yet face a decline in the supply of power as the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN on Saturday confirmed a fire incident which occurred at its Afam VI power station in Rivers State had completely destroyed the firm’s protection and control equipment.

    The General Manager, Public Affairs of TCN, Mrs. Seun Olagunju, explained in a statement that the fire incident occurred on Wednesday and that the equipment destroyed were located in TCN’s relay and control room.

    She said the development had prevented the evacuation of guaranteed 450 megawatts of electricity generated by the station.

    Olagunju said the fire incident, which occurred around 6:58 am, completely destroyed the transmission company’s equipment at the power station.

    She, however, said the cause of the inferno had yet to be ascertained as of Saturday.

    The TCN spokesperson added that the firm’s response team were mobilised to the site of the inferno immediately the incident happened, to isolate the faulty section of the substation.

    She said the team was also asked to make an alternative arrangement for the evacuation of power generated by Afam VI station into the grid.

    She said, “Presently, the job has been successfully completed and the power station has reconnected to the national grid.”

    Olagunju explained that the major cause of the current low power generation was not the fire incident but the vandalism of gas pipelines that resulted in short supply of gas to the thermal power generating stations.

    She pledged that TCN would continue to work towards expanding the nation’s transmission grid in line with its expansion plans.

    It is not however clear when TCN will fix the destroyed equipment to jack up the supply of power which is currently epileptic nationally.

     

  • IBEDC not responsible for epileptic power supply

    The management of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, IBEDC on Thursday said it was not responsible for the poor electricity supply to customers within its catchment area.

    The Head, IBEDC Media Communications, Mrs Angela Olanrewaju, in a statement in Lagos said that it only distributed the quantum of energy allocated to it by the Transmission Company of Nigeria.

    She said, “We wish to inform our stakeholders that the energy value chain comprising the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the country has its inherent challenges.

    “The distribution companies supply power to customers based on energy allocated to them by TCN.

    “It is wrong for TCN to blame distribution companies over poor power supply to customers.”

    The IBEDC Deputy Managing Director, Mr. John Ayodele, said that TCN, being the middle-man of the value chain, has not been distributing power when and to where it was needed.

    According to him, the frequency of interruptions, sometimes more than 10 times in 24 hours, has made a number of our premium customers to resort to self-generation.

    He said, “We will continue to appeal to TCN for better and reliable power supply to enable us to retain our premium customers who are beginning to seek alternative power sources.

    “We will continue to improve and upgrade our infrastructure for power supply delivery to all our esteemed customers in the face of all the obstacles in the sector.”

    He said that IBEDC was also hampered by avalanche of transmission limitations which vary from region to region.

     

    NAN

  • ‘If you don’t have the skill and patience to serve, leave’, Fashola warns DISCOS

    The Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on Monday warned the distribution companies in the country to step up their service delivery or quit.

    Fashola gave the warning at the opening ceremony of the 11th Monthly Stakeholders meeting in Lagos.

    According to him, we all know the issues around metering and billing system; we must build the trust and confidence that customers’ complains will be addressed.

    “We need to do whatever is possible in our various distribution areas to improve the quality of service and continue to train our personnel to recognise that customer is king.

    “If we cannot provide or solve their problems, we own it a duty to explain what we are doing.

    “We own it a duty to fish out a few members of staff, not all, because we have some dedicated staff.

    “I am conscious of the challenges the operators are facing.

    “We are working as hard as we can to make the environment more responsive to you and as I have said and will repeat that as pioneers, you will carry some burdens.

    “You will have to sacrifice, perhaps more than what you have done,’’ he said.

    Fashola said that without the customers and the consumers, there would be no business.

    “I think that all of us in the public and private sector must understand that. If you don’t have the skill and the patient to serve, leave.

    “But I am optimistic that things will get better, I am optimistic that we can win together and we can win for the Nigeria people,” the minister said.

    On the liquidity issues, Fashola said that government was working with other development partners.

    “Local and international partners would have shown commitment and inspiring appetite to play in this market.

    “We are trying to see what we can do together in order to bring the liquidity issues under some control and from there eventually solve it.

    “Our partners in government are also inspiring and show understanding of what the challenges are. So, it is quick decision making now.

    “Collaboration and decisions will be fair, but firm, and we expect that people will respect the decisions and also processes to be re-engaged as they come,” the minister said.

    In his remarks, the Managing Director, Ikeja Electric, Mr Anthony Youdeiwoe, said that 2016 was a challenging year for stakeholders.

    According to him, though, the challenges still remain, they are better discussed whenever we meet like this.’’

    He said that efforts were also ongoing to address the challenges and proffer solutions.