Politically speaking, it looks like Nigeria is fixated on only two sources of generation mix, which are hydro and thermal. This is not healthy for the country considering the fact that our energy production is still very low and we are blessed with other abundant but untapped generation mix like solar, coal, wind, biomass etc.

Recently, a drop in generation was observed on the national grid and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has attributed it to gas constraints to the thermal stations. According to TCN, the energy received from the gas stations reduced because the stations are currently experiencing low gas pressure from their Supplier that in turn affects the gas volume received for energy production. This situation has led to load rationing to load centers and the Distribution companies.

This trend has become cyclical, perennial and almost intractable as it happens every year, especially when the hydro stations are experiencing their own off-season.

Ordinarily, one expects that when the dams are experiencing low operating head during the dry season, the thermal stations would have enough gas to bridge the gap but the reverse is the case as it is the same period that gas stations also have drop in their gas pressure.

From empirical facts, most of the thermal stations (particularly the National Integrated Power Plants) have no active and functional Gas Sales Agreement (GSA) hence the gas Supplier is not under any contractual obligation to feed these stations with gas. With the move to privatize these plants, it is envisaged that their new owners would enter into actionable contracts for the purchase of gas from the gas Supplier so that they would have the necessary raw material to be in business.

Another benefit of having sufficient gas supply at this period is that the thermal stations can schedule their plant maintenance for the rainy season when the lakes would be full to allow the hydro stations optimize their production.

In the face of this reality and given our natural endowments, it is germane for the power sector to encourage other sources of electricity generation as enumerated above so as to diversify the generation mix. With a drop in gas volume to the thermal plants and low water levels in the lakes, other sources would have been able to augment for the shortfall.

We should not be at the mercy of only two generation mix!