Nigeria’s electricity generation has taken another hit as persistent gas supply shortages continue to affect thermal power plants across the country, the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) has said.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the system operator disclosed that the ongoing gas constraints forced several power generating units to shut down, resulting in a drop of about 292 megawatts in available electricity on the national grid.
According to NISO, the development follows an earlier warning issued on February 27 when electricity distribution companies were notified of reduced energy allocations due to insufficient gas supply to thermal generating stations.
The operator said that as of 05:00 hours on March 5, total power generation on the national grid stood at 3,940.53 megawatts, already below expected capacity due to existing gas supply limitations affecting multiple power plants.
The situation worsened between 06:00 and 08:00 hours when several generating units were forced offline because they could not access the gas needed to continue operations.
Operational data reviewed by NISO indicated that thermal power stations require approximately 1,588.61 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to operate at optimal capacity, highlighting the scale of the supply gap currently facing the sector.
Despite the challenges, the system operator said it was implementing necessary operational measures to maintain grid stability while managing the impact of the reduced generation on the electricity network.
