Page 9 - AfrElec Week 39

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
POLICY
Nigeria aims for uninterrupted supplies
President Muhammadu Buhari reassured Nigerians of the government’s commitment to resolving the power sector challenges
in partnership with the German company, Siemens.
The Premium Times quoted Buhari, during a National Independence Day’s broadcast on 1 October, stating that the federal government is resolute in reforming the power sector.
“We are resolute in reforming the power sector. In August this year, we launched the Presidential Power Initiative to modernise the National Grid in 3 phases: starting from 5GW to 7GW, then to 11GW by 2023, and finally 25GW afterwards,” he said.
In July, the federal government has
signed an agreement with Siemens for the implementation of the Nigeria Electrification Roadmap.
The goal of the Roadmap is to resolve existing challenges in the power sector and expand the capacity for the future power needs of the country.
At present, the country’s power system is suffering from an imbalance between power generation and end-user consumption.
Despite approximately 13,000MW of
power generation capacity in the country, only an average of 3,400MW reliably reaches consumers.
The inadequate power supply results in regular blackouts and has stunted Nigeria’s economic development.
The President assured that the new plan “will provide end-to-end electrification solutions that will resolve our transmission and distribution challenges”.
He also said the plan includes new initiatives to address the problems of energy theft, billing and tariff collection, which contribute to the acute liquidity crisis in the electricity sector.
POLICY
Libya’s outages caused by GECOL negligence
The Libyan Audit Bureau said there has been negligence and violations at the General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) that led to low output reaching half of its actual capacity.
A committee formed by the Audit Bureau warned of total blackouts across Libya if the performance of GECOL remained as such.
The committee reported the GECOL observation to the Head of Audit Bureau Khalid Shakshak on September 30,
showcasing the mismanagement and inefficiency as well as misuse of resources of the Electricity Company.
Shakshak reiterated the need to continue to point out the violations in the coming ten days and to monitor the implementation of the Presidential Council’s plan for the company that aims to boost the output with additional 1,200MW before winter.
Libya’s electricity network is undergoing inefficiencies during both summer and winter, which made GECOL start load shedding hours in most Libyan cities, especially in Tripoli.
GECOL says looting and inability to do maintenance work because of fighting and security vacuum caused such poor power conditions in the country, which critics say the administration of GECOL is unable to find solutions to the crisis over the years due to corruption and negligence, saying the officials must be sacked and replaced by more qualified ones.
INVESTMENT
African cross-subsidies a challenge to investment
The CEO of the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), Jonathan Amoako- Baah, has noted that cross-subsidisation of electricity in Africa is a major challenge.
He said this while speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2019 AFRICON hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
“Ghana, like many developing countries, has a major problem which is the cross- subsidisation of electricity prices, to address the broader economic, political and social conditions of the country,” he said.
Also speaking at the same event, the Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr Samuel Boakye-Appiah, said private investors have an important role to play in the energy sector in Africa and around the world in order to help the government to constantly supply power for domestic and commercial use.
He said: “Over the past 50 years, ECG has provided quality, safe and reliable electricity distribution services to support the economic growth and development of Ghana. Currently, with over 85% electricity access rate in Ghana, ECG and her sister utilities Volta River Authority, GRIDCo and NEDCo can
be proud of our collective achievements. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the
Week 39 02•October•2019
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P9