Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has raised the alarm over worsening operational challenges, revealing that nearly N600 billion in unpaid debts and about 2,000MW of stranded electricity are severely hampering its operations.
NDPHC’s Managing Director, Jennifer Adighije, disclosed that despite recent efforts by the company’s new management to restore five turbine units across its Calabar, Omotosho, Sapele, and Ihovbor plants, which added 625MW back into the national grid, most of the available capacity remained underutilised.
“We currently have a mechanically available generation capacity of about 2,000MW that is stranded, largely due to transmission bottlenecks, gas supply limitations, and low offtake by distribution companies (DisCos),” Adighije stated.
She explained that much of the electricity generated by the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) plants was frequently used by the system operator for primary frequency response, essential for stabilising the grid, adding that ancillary services were not monetised in line with grid codes and industry regulations, leaving NIPP plants ordered to start up and shut down without any form of compensation.
“This leads to low utilisation of capacity and puts significant operational stress on the generating turbine units,” she said.
Adighije said power generation was driven by demand, and that if the demand was not there, the plants would not generate, adding that even when demand existed, the company often faced insufficient dispatch corridors or limited wheeling capacity through the grid network.
Despite these challenges, Adighije noted that the NDPHC continued to drive grid expansion and invest in transmission and distribution network improvements.
Since the inception of the NIPP, she said the company had invested over N500 billion in transmission infrastructure, including transformers, substations, switchgears, transmission lines, and other critical projects now operated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
She acknowledged, however, that issues persisted at some key plants. At the Alaoji Power Plant, for instance, a gas supply metering dispute led to its shutdown.
But she assured that significant progress had been made to restore the Gas Metering Station, with the plant expected to resume operations before the end of the year.
On the financial front, Adighije revealed that the company’s repeated attempts to secure a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) had failed, leaving NDPHC at the bottom of the dispatch priority list despite its available daily dispatch capacity of about 2,000MW.
While acknowledging the Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu, for efforts to address transmission constraints, Adighije stressed that broader reforms were still needed to fix the structural bottlenecks affecting Nigeria’s electricity market.
