Lagos Govt, NDPHC, Discos Collaborate to Improve Power Supply

Worried by the poor state of power supply in the country, especially as it concerns Lagos State, the state government has pledged collaboration with the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the distribution companies in the state towards resolving the challenges.

The inability of the distribution companies to pick available power from the NDPHC, the implementer of the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), coupled with the difficulty of securing a space to build additional transmission line in the state, has been identified as part of the issues depriving Lagosians of stable power supply.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday during a visit to NDPHC's transmission substation at Oke Aro, a suburb of Lagos, the state Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Olalere Odusote, said the state government was ready to support every move by the NDPHC, the Ikeja and Ibadan Discos to solve the power problem.

Odusote, who was taken round the facility and briefed on the situation by the Managing Director of NDPHC, Mr. Chiedu Ugbo, stressed that the ‘Light Up Programme’ of the administration depended on the functionality and ability of the power providers to deliver electricity to the state.

According to him, "What I found out here is that there is capacity, just as NDPHC has earlier said that there’s ablility to supply more power to Lagos State. If you look at what we have here, we have about 500MW of capacity available to be evacuated.  Out of which we have got 100MW capacity of transformers that are actually going out; out of that 100MW, about 60MW comes to Lagos.

 

"We can do a lot more than that. From the discussions with the distribution companies in Lagos and from the interventions that we are trying to carry out, we realised that we actually need the power to come to Lagos. Now, our ‘Light Up Lagos’ programme certainly depends on the power being available on the grid.

 "The interventions with the discos will not amount to much if there is no supplies. So we expect that engagement and interaction with NDPHC will be able to do more for Lagos State.”

He added: "For Oke Aro, the challenge they (NDPHC) have expressed to us is one of getting way-leave to be able to get to build a transmission line through Lagos, and we have been engaging with them, and to date,  we don't think there are more issues on the Lagos side. 

"We are certainly working with them to engage the Ogun State Government to clear the issues that we have, which is also hindering the transmission line from being built to Alausa."

Also addressing journalists, Ugbo said a lot of electric power was lying stranded because the discos could not take them for distribution.

He explained that the substation at Oke Aro has seven feeders which should take a minimum of 100 megawatts, but that the feeders of both Ikeja and Ibadan Disco only take less than 30MW.

This, he added, was a problem that needed to be solved in order to make power available to the people of the state, hence the visit of the commissioner.

Ugbo said: "I came here with the commissioner because as part of the design of this project. We have a 132KV transmission line that takes off from here to Alausa. That project has been on but we have serious way-leave challenge. 

"We have requested the support of the Lagos State Government and they are actively trying to assist us to resolve the challenges along the line route, not just on the Lagos State part of it but even in Ogun State. So we have come to see in order to assess and to know where the challenges are.”