Egbin resumes operation, generates 400MW

The nations biggest electricity generating plant, the Egbin Power Station, on Thursday commenced operations less than 48 hours after it was shut down due to equipment failure, recovering about 400 megawatts out of the 1,080 it lost on Tuesday.The Chief Executive Officer, Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Mike Uzoigwe, who confirmed this in a telephone conversation with our correspondent, said, Unit 2 and Unit 5 are back. Unit 1 is now okay, but not connected to the grid yet. The two working units are altogether doing less than 400MW.Uzoigwe said the connection of Unit 1 to the grid would be done on Thursday night, while Unit 4 would be addressed on Friday (today).Unit 3, he disclosed, would be addressed subsequently, adding, By weekend, things will take their normal course.He had confirmed on Wednesday that the shutdown was caused by equipment failure.Before the latest setback, the station was contributing about 1,080MW to the national grid.The current national average power generation is about 3,400MW, although it is estimated that Nigeria will require about 10,000MW to effectively guarantee uninterrupted supply of electricity.Uzoigwe had said on Wednesday, It is not hydro or gas problem but equipment failure. Repairs are underway and the units will start coming up one by one later today (Wednesday).The station has six units, but before the shutdown, only five were working. The working units, it was learnt, had not undergone turn-around maintenance since the station was inaugurated.The station had an installed capacity of 1,320 MW with each of the six units expected to generate 220MW each, but the five working units jointly produce a little over 1,000MW daily.Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources will next year embark on the development of hydropower stations using the existing dams across the country.The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, disclosed this on Wednesday night in Kaduna, while delivering a keynote address at the a retreat for the directorate cadre staff of the ministry and its agencies.Ochekpe said the ministry would contribute in no small measure to the development of mini hydropower generating stations from dams in the country.
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