Nigeria’s weak electricity grid system collapsed again recently, barely 24 hours after a committee set up by the Federal Government to end the national power grid incessant collapses submitted its report. The lesson from Edo is that the national grid needs huge investment just the same way Ossiomo Power invested in Edo State. President Tinubu should study private investments in the Edo-Ossiomo transmission segment in the electricity value chain.
The collapse, the second time within a week and the 10th in 2024, left the country without public power supply, with power generation and distribution companies taking huge financial hits and customers expressing frustrations. The incessant national grid collapse may persist, except urgent steps are taken to address the several challenges bedevilling the power sector. These factors include obsolete equipment, inadequate gas supply, improper coordination of plants and gas pipelines, lack of operating/spinning reserve and voltage support scheme, lack of reliable Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, SCADA, vandalism, tripping of critical infrastructure lines, lack of reliable communication facility, lack of visibility on the DISCOs network, and corruption.
The recent amendment to Item 14 of the Concurrent Legislative List in Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution now allows states to regulate their electricity sectors. Along with the new Electricity Act 2023, this has allowed the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to transform.
The Ossiomo Gas-Fired Power Plant is a 550 MW gas-fired power project. It was planned and built in Edo, Nigeria. According to GlobalData, which tracks and profiles over 170,000 power plants worldwide, the project is currently completed and active, which has the capacity to expand. It will be developed in multiple phases. Ossiomo Power in Benin City had commissioned another new 40 MW independent power plant (IPP) dedicated to providing power to the Benin Industrial and Enterprise Park and local communities in the Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State. The power plant is providing 24/7 power to Ologbo and Obayantor communities in the area.
The plant is an addition to the existing 55 MW plant, which has been in operation in the state since 2020 and has been supplying power to government buildings, offices, and streetlights, among others. The street lighting project stretches for 200 km across the Benin metropolis.
Over 20 companies operating in Benin City have been connected to the 95 MW Ossiomo Power Plant, the power generation and distribution company midwifed by a Memorandum of Understanding between the Edo State Government and Ossiomo Power Company.
Edo State has continued to witness an influx of private businesses since the power plant came on stream, with many companies opting to leverage the power advantage to expand their businesses and boost production.
The 95 MW Ossiomo Power Plant is located at Ologbo, Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area, and provides power to the Benin Enterprise Park. It also powers government buildings and establishments, including hospitals, the secretariat complex, and Government House, as well as the state’s street lighting project.
With the improvement of distribution infrastructure by Ossiomo Power in selected areas of the Benin metropolis, residents are opting for the company’s power solution, with the supply averaging 22 to 24 hours per day. The industrial areas are even better served because they need electricity to keep the machines running, which is not what you get everywhere in Nigeria.
Read also: National grid collapse in Nigeria: An alarming reality
Ossiomo is addressing the issue of power generation in Edo State, addressing the issues mitigating against distribution and transmission”. There is a need for President Tinubu to adopt Governor Obaseki’s model of power distribution in Edo State. There is competition between Ossiomo and BEDC in Edo State.
There is alternative electricity in Edo State today. Nigeria needs this model to solve the electricity challenge. In June 2017, Governor Obaseki announced to the world that in six months, his administration would provide uninterrupted power supply to Benin City and environs.
Government establishments on the Sapele Road axis, including the Government House, Secretariat, Court Complex, Central Hospital, House of Assembly, and the Oba of Bénin Palace, have 24-hour power supply, according to his plans. Obaseki was quite assured that he would deliver on his promise in record time.
Obaseki entered a power purchase agreement with Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure to bulk-purchase the five megawatts the firm planned to generate from its 50-megawatt plant at Ologbo in the Ikpoba-Okha local government area, which BEDC had frustrated. The megawatts were expected to be transmitted on a new 35-kilometre double-circuit 33Kva line to deliver 24/7 uninterrupted power.
The electricity market in Edo State is taking a turn for the better as increased competition among players has created options for reliable power supply for residents, who credit Governor Obaseki for opening up the state for investment that has now improved their living standards.
Obaseki is setting new boundaries for power generation in Edo State, which Benin Electricity Disco (“BEDC” or “Benin Disco”), which is one of the successor distribution companies created following the unbundling and privatisation of the state-owned Power Holding Company of Nigeria Plc, highly misunderstands. BEDC misunderstood Obaseki, who has introduced a systems approach to quantifying the value of power generation and energy storage technologies in future electricity networks.
A new approach was required to determine a technology’s value to the power systems of the 21st century. The centrepiece of the “system value(SV) concept is a whole electricity systems model on a national scale, which simultaneously determines the ideal power system design and unit-wise operational strategy.
BEDC, since its inception, has not added any value to the infrastructure it inherited, which explains the poor and deteriorated state of the power infrastructure in this part of the country. “The BEDC personnel on the field are unprofessional in their conduct and openly engage the services of military personnel to intimidate and brutalise customers.
Nigerians want improved access to power supply, and industries want to have electricity to scale up production.” Obaseki has changed electricity generation and distribution in Benin City.
Inwalomhe Donald writes via [email protected]
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