The Minister of Power, Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe, has disclosed that the Federal Government will deploy and install 300 containers of critical power equipment as part of efforts to upgrade transmission infrastructure across the country.
Tegbe disclosed this at a media briefing in Abuja, according to a statement issued by the ministry on Tuesday.
Tegbe said the next phase of the government’s intervention would focus on deepening grid stabilisation along the Lagos, Enugu-Port Harcourt and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano corridors.
He added that technical audits would also commence on selected transmission corridors to identify weak points and guide future investments.
According to the statement, Tegbe said the Ministry, in collaboration with relevant government agencies, had facilitated the release of more than 300 containers of critical power equipment held at the ports.
He said the equipment would be inspected, deployed and installed to support ongoing upgrades to the country’s transmission infrastructure.
According to the Minister, the release of the equipment would address the situation where power projects remained incomplete while critical equipment was left stranded in storage.
He said the Ministry would also continue efforts to develop the Transmission Super Grid, which is aimed at improving the utilisation of existing generation and distribution assets while preparing the power infrastructure to meet future electricity demand.
According to Tegbe, newly commissioned transformers at Apapa, Ijora, Alausa and Lekki had unlocked 672MW of capacity, while a 300MVA transformer energised at Katampe had added another 240MW.
“Generation and transmission had exceeded 5,000MW over recent weeks, compared with the 3,700MW–4,700MW range before June, while a generation peak of 5,330MW was recorded during August and September,” the Minister stated
He added that N1.23tn had been raised towards settling the N3.3tn backlog of debt in the power sector.
Tegbe further disclosed that the resolution of some litigation had cleared the way for the procurement of approximately 1.4 million smart meters, while installations at military formations had reached 90,000.
