Electricity Generation: Dearth Of Infrastructure Threatens 20,000MW Projection

Dearth of infrastructure will affect Nigeria’s projection of hitting 20,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity generation, the Chief Executive Officer, Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EDEC), Rob Dickerman, has said.

The Nation report continues:

Dickerman, who stated this at a forum in Lagos, said getting the projected megawatts requires huge funds, as well as other infrastructure, such as gas network, strong turbines and policies, among others.

He said about US$40billion is required to produce 20,000MW, arguing that the inability of the Federal Government to provide infrastructure for the power plants would make the plan unrealizable.

The Eko Disco chief, who praised the deregulation of the gas sector, said it was encouraging that stakeholders in the energy value chain are buying gas at varying prices in line with the competitive gas prices fixed by the government a few years ago.

He said: “Though prices of gas have been fixed at varying market induced rates by the government, there is need to deregulate the gas sector fully. The government should remove its hands from issues, such as fixing and controlling prices of gas. It should allow market forces to determine the growth of the gas sub-sector.

“When turbine owners are able to access gas at prices they are comfortable with, it would not be difficult getting the product to the plants, after undesirable issues such as pipeline vandalism and others have been addressed.’’

Dickerman said the country needs to build the Nigerian National Liquefied Gas (NLNG) domestic system, if it wants to make gas available for indigenous users.

The industry had generated about 5,000MW of electricity in February before it went down to a little over 2,000 MW of electricity few days ago. Currently, the sector is generating 4,200MW.