103
By Daniel Adaji
The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has blamed a N600bn debt owed by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) and other bilateral agencies for its inability to deliver power at full capacity.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, the company’s Managing Director, Jennifer Adighije, said the debt, combined with gas supply issues and transmission constraints, has left a large portion of NDPHC’s generation capacity stranded.
“NDPHC currently has mechanically available generation capacity of about 2,000MW that is significantly stranded due to transmission constraints, gas supply and gas transportation limitations, in addition to dwindling offtake by the distribution companies (DisCos),” Adighije stated.
She added that the situation is worsened by the company’s lack of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NBET, which has pushed it to the bottom tier of the dispatch merit order despite its available daily output.
“Currently, NDPHC is in the least priority bucket for dispatch despite having 2,000MW in available daily dispatch capacity. Much of that capacity remains stranded due to systemic constraints,” she said.
Adighije revealed that NDPHC had recently restored five turbines across Calabar, Omotosho, Sapele, and Ihovbor power plants, adding 625MW to the national grid, but the inability of DisCos to take up more electricity continues to undermine those efforts.
She added that the NIPP plants under NDPHC have long served as grid stabilizers through primary frequency response, yet the system operator does not compensate for these ancillary services.
“NIPP plants are ordered to startup and shut down at the prerogative of the system operator without compensation. This leads to low utilization and operational stress on the turbines,” she said.
Adighije pledged NDPHC commitment to expanding Nigeria’s power infrastructure and reaching underserved areas.
“Since inception of NIPP, NDPHC has invested over N500bn in transmission infrastructure—transformers, substations, switch gears, yards, transmission lines, and more—many now operated by TCN,” she said.
She also revealed that the Alaoji Power Plant, which was shut down due to a metering dispute, is expected to resume operations by the end of the year once the Gas Metering Station is restored.
To address the issue of stranded capacity, NDPHC is now turning to direct electricity sales, enabled by a recent directive from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
“We now prioritize direct supply to eligible customers and bilateral trading to commercialize our stranded capacity. This strategy, under the July 25 NERC directive, should help address our stranded energy issue,” she stated.