Power Sector And Other Related News Stories For Monday November 6th 2023
Revamping The Power Sector
In its renewed bid to revamp the ailing power sector, the federal government and a Chinese company recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Beijing, China, that would inject about $463 million into the sector. The money would be used to improve power distribution lines in Nigeria, as well as increase power supply to families and businesses nationwide. The Chinese Exim Bank will finance the deal, which contains both offshore and onshore components.
Besides, it will upgrade the distribution lines infrastructure under Lot Three of the Public-Private Initiative (PPI). This encompasses regions served by Jos, Kano, Abuja and Kaduna distribution companies (Discos). A separate MoU was also signed in China between the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to build a power sector super-grid in Nigeria.
https://sunnewsonline.com/revamping-the-power-sector/
Stakeholders Seek Decentralization of Renewable Energy Solutions
Rising from a high-level policy dialogue themed Sustainability, Inclusiveness, and Governance of Mini-grids in Africa (SIGMA), they agreed to work together to address the several challenges facing the expansion of mini-grids in the country.
The event, hosted by the International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development (ICEED) provided a platform to present and validate the findings from a multi-year, multi-country UK-funded research project on SIGMA.
Speaking at the programme, the Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Power, Joshua Gana, said the forum provided a valuable opportunity to engage stakeholders in seeking solutions to the challenges of electricity access.
https://guardian.ng/property/stakeholders-seek-decentralisation-of-renewable-energy-solutions/
NERC Says Discos Licences Valid Till 2028
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has cautioned that the licenses of the 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) expire in 2028, not 2023, despite President Bola Tinubu’s criticism of the performance of most of the successor utility companies ten (10) years after the privatization deal.
This was made known at the 10th anniversary of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) Market Participants and Stakeholder Roundtable in Abuja, on Monday, reviewing the privatisation exercise after a decade.
https://www.energyfocusreport.com/nerc-says-discos-licences-valid-till-2028/
Stakeholders Want Inclusion Of Engineers In Nigeria Electricity Act Implementation
As part of measures to ensure effective implementation of the Nigeria Electricity Act, the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and other stakeholders in the power sector have called for the active involvement of engineers in driving the process.
The stakeholders noted that the exclusion of engineers from making input in the drafting of the Electricity Act was a disincentive to the development of the technical operational component to stimulate a competitive national electricity market.
Speaking at the 2023 Content Development Workshop held in Port Harcourt, under the theme; “A Technical Analysis of the Electricity Act 2023, pros, cons and way forward”, the stakeholders called for the review of the technical components of Electricity Regulation Act 2023 to be reflective of the input of engineers who have the technological capabilities to drive the process.
Cost-reflective Tariffs as Panacea for Nigeria’s Electricity Woes
With no clear line of sight to when Nigeria will finally have adequate and reliable power supply, Emmanuel Addeh writes that allowing a cost-reflective electricity tariff regime could just be the elixir to the quagmire in the power sector
To say that the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) is in a mess currently, would be stating the obvious. A nation of over 200 million people, the citizens depend on just 4,000mw of electricity supply to power their homes and businesses.
As expected, the near lack of power in Nigeria has further compounded its development crisis and has kept the dream of having a good industrial base unachievable.
https://energycentral.com/news/cost-reflective-tariffs-panacea-nigeria%E2%80%99s-electricity-woes
Businesses Shutting Down over Escalating Cost of Energy, Says Dogara
A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, has decried the rising cost of self-generated energy due to skyrocketing diesel prices and the unreliability of the national grid. Speaking in Abuja, on the sidelines of the just-concluded “Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry Open Golf Tournament” to mark the 10th anniversary of the privatisation of the power sector in Nigeria, Dogara however explained that the sector cannot be divorced from what is happening in Nigeria as a whole.
While stating that the generation companies remain very critical in the value chain, the former speaker pointed out that without adequate power supply Nigeria’s progress will continue to be curtailed.
Collaboration, Partnership Crucial for Reliable Electricity –Egbin Power
As the power sector commemorates its 10th year, post privatization anniversary, Egbin Power Plc, has urged partnership and collaboration among players and stakeholders in the value chain to achieve the synergy for stable electricity supply.
The power generation firm said these two essential ingredients would further drive improvement in the sector and deliver reliable electricity to Nigerians
Egbin Power Plc described the 10th anniversary of power sector privatization as a milestone and decade of trajectory progress of the power plant, resulting in greater contribution to the nation’s socio-economic growth.
https://sunnewsonline.com/collaboration-partnership-crucial-for-reliable-electricity-egbin-power/
Solar Mini-Grids Offer Clean-Power Hope to Rural Africa
Working as a nurse in her rural Nigerian village, Andat Datau faced more than her share of challenges. But delivering babies by torchlight was always hard.
Off-grid for years, her Sabon Gida village relied on diesel generators or lamps and, like millions of other Africans, Datau often got no light at all.
But a year ago, Datau’s village in north central Nasarawa State hooked up to a solar-powered mini-grid supplying half of her community’s households and most businesses with almost constant electricity.
Sabon Gida now has more light at times than Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, where many get by on around half a day’s power—at times much less—from the unstable network.
