Utilization of power generating plants in Nigeria

Abstract

We study the utilization of electricity power generating plants in Nigeria. In particular, Azura power plant in Edo State, Nigeria, is used as a case study. Utilization of a power generating plants is the ratio of the power generated by the plant to the name plate of the plant. The name plate of a plant is the installed capacity. We use published data on daily net power output (MWh) and the constraints (MWh) to derive the total expected output. The total expected output is the sum of net power output and the constraints. The constraints (MWh) is the power not generated by a power plant due to limiting factors such as the national grid requirements (transmission requirements), gas supply, and demand load. The empirical maximum utilization of all the generating plants using the available data is 0.69, where Utilization is given by net output divided by total expected output. At Azura power plant, the maximum utilization observed for a thirty- day period (25/09/2018-24/10/208) is 0.53. The main reason for this low utilization at Azura power plant was grid requirement. The results support other studies that the transmission system in the country is a bottle neck in supplying electricity to consumers. We propose the use of off grid solution such as the introduction of micro-grid so that generating plants can generate electricity and supply to consumers near them without using the national grid.