The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: Electricity

  • Dangote Plans Over $10bn Investment in Africa’s Power Sector

    Dangote Plans Over $10bn Investment in Africa’s Power Sector

    Precious Nwonu, Enugu

    President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has announced plans to invest more than $10bn in Africa’s power sector over the next three to four years as part of efforts to address the continent’s electricity shortage.

    Dangote disclosed this in an interview with Al Jazeera published on Monday, stressing that reliable electricity supply was essential to Africa’s economic and industrial development.

    According to the billionaire businessman, the planned investment is part of a broader strategy aimed at driving significant economic transformation across the continent.

    He said the group was considering redirecting funds from some business ventures, including a possible steel project, towards investments in electricity generation and related infrastructure.

    “We want to invest over $10 billion alone in power,” Dangote said.

    He expressed concern over the number of Africans still without access to electricity, saying more than 600 million people across the continent remain without power.

    Dangote described the situation as unacceptable and argued that expanding access to reliable electricity should be a major priority for African governments and businesses.

    “It is something that we Africans should not really allow. Over 600 million of our people to remain in darkness,” he said.

    The Dangote Group president also linked electricity supply to the ability of governments to promote economic growth and improve living standards.

    He argued that political leaders who deliver reliable electricity and other essential services would have less difficulty convincing voters of their performance during election periods.

    Dangote maintained that power remains a fundamental requirement for industrialisation, economic expansion and job creation.

    “Power is key. We will never, ever create growth without power,” he said.

    He added, “That’s why they say, power is growth.”

    The planned investment comes amid persistent electricity supply challenges across several African countries, where inadequate generation capacity and infrastructure continue to constrain industrial and economic activities.

  • Energy crisis: Electricity national grid collapses again

    The electricity national grid has collapsed again leaving the country without public power supply.

    The latest collapse, the third in less than a month, came despite assurances by the Federal Government that it has taken steps to address the problem.

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) who manages the grid had last month said it had developed an alternative ways of managing the grid.

    TCN had stated that its “in-house engineers have deployed a stop-gap solution to improve grid monitoring and acquisition of data from remote stations (power stations and transmission substations) to the National Control Centre. This was achieved by utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT) solution, and Virtual Private Network (VPN) by using various Internet Service Providers (ISP).

    “This temporary use of the Network Automation System was deployed to assist TCN in conveying critical operational measurements data from remote stations to NCC using Web Technology, which is an integral component of the IoT. So far, the data received from remote stations has enabled NCC to obtain more insight into the situation of the power flow on the grid and has enabled NCC to make decisions that have impacted positively on the security and integrity of the Grid.

    “The stop-gap solution became necessary as TCN could not access and receive comprehensive operational data of the entire power grid for managing the fast-growing system. The existing inadequate SCADA System cannot provide adequate grid visibility, as parts of the existing SCADA system are moribund and damaged, coupled with an ineffective telecommunication network infrastructure. The fact that several stations were never integrated into the existing SCADA at all, and made grid visibility and management very difficult and inefficient”.

    (Vanguard)

  • Electricity Bill 2021: Senate passes second reading on investment barriers in power sector

     

    A new Senate bill meant to eliminate the current barriers hindering private sector investment in the power value chain passed second reading on the floor of the red chamber on Tuesday.

     

    It was titled, ‘Electricity Bill 2021.’

    The sponsor, Senator Gabriel Suswan, said that when passed, the proposed legislation will attract the funds needed to address the current funding gaps confronting the industry since the privatisation of the power sector.

     

    He said that all the constraints had received various interventions by the executive and legislative arms of government over the years.

     

    “The challenges have continued to threaten the viability of successor companies, including their financial capacity to invest in network improvement to guarantee reliable power supply as envisaged in their respective performance agreement,” Suswan noted.

     

    The senator said that the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act 2005 was fraught with gaps and shortcomings that made it unsuitable to adequately regulate activities of market operators and participants in the post-privatised phase of the industry.

     

    He also stressed the need to consolidate all legislations in the power sector into one electric statute in order to align regulatory responsibilities and ensure clarity of statutory roles for ease of compliance with regulatory requirements by operators.

     

    “What is, however, required at this point is an ideal legal framework that will stimulate the deployment of relevant regulatory and policy measures.”

     

    He said such law would accelerate growth in power generation capacity, improve utilization of generated power through investment in new technologies that would enhance transmission and distribution of generated power.

     

    He said the bill when passed, would provide the framework for power diversification through the use of cleaner renewable energy sources such as coal, wind, sun and ensure sustainable energy mix.

     

    The lawmaker added that the piece of legislation when re-enacted would also eliminate current barriers to private sector funds investment across the power value chain and attract the funds needed to address the current funding gaps confronting the industry since the privatization of the power sector

     

    He said the available industry information indicates that countries that have gone through power sector reforms have realised the need for a comprehensive electricity laws that deal with post privatisation issues that were not contemplated by the reform legislation.

     

    Suswan said the bill had taken care of all issues that require policy, regulation and statutory guidance in the Nigerian power sector

     

    He said, “Part IV of the bill provides a clear guide on the unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria into the Transmission Service Provider and Independent System Operator in accordance with its licence.

     

    “Part VII. VIII. IX. X are concerned with critical issues to the electricity industry like electricity transmission, electricity distribution and electricity tariffs respectively

     

    “Under parts V and XV of the Bill, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Rural Electrification Agency retains their roles as regulator and coordinator of rural electrification respectively.

     

    “Part XVII of the bill provides for the two establishment Act relating to the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency and the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission respectively.

     

    He said the bill canvassed for the establishment of the Electricity Disputes Appeal Tribunal, which would compose of judicial and technical members to speedily resolve appeals arising from decisions of the Commission and other matters defined under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. Appeals.

     

    He said the bill would diversify the power sector to accommodate cleaner renewable energy sources, as well as boost investment from private sector participation.

     

    He recalled that the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005, provided the legal and institutional framework for the reform of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry initiated and implemented by the Federal Government between 2001 – 2013.

     

    The Electricity Bill, 2021, after scaling second reading was referred by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan,  to the Committee on Power for further work.

     

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.punchng.com

  • World Bank lists Nigeria Among the first three countries with the largest electricity Inadequacy and default

     

    The World Bank has listed Nigeria among the three countries with the largest electricity deficits in the world.

     

    It said during the last decade, a greater share of the global population gained access to electricity than ever before, but the number of people without electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa increased.

     

    The bank disclosed this on Monday in a report, titled ‘Universal access to sustainable energy will remain elusive without addressing inequalities’.

     

    It said, “Significant progress has been made since 2010 on various aspects of the Sustainable Development Goal 7, but progress has been unequal across regions.

     

    “While more than one billion people gained access to electricity globally over the last decade, COVID’s financial impact has made basic electricity services unaffordable for 30 million more people, the majority located in Africa.

     

    “Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia had the biggest electricity access deficits, with Ethiopia replacing India in the top three.”

     

    According to the bank, unless efforts are scaled up significantly in countries with the largest deficits, the world would still fall short of ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030.

     

     

     

    Nigeria was also listed among the top 20 countries that lacked access to clean fuel and technologies for cooking.

     

    The World Bank added, “Of the top 20 countries with greatest number of people lacking access to clean fuel and technologies for cooking, 10 are located in Sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, Madagascar, Ghana, Niger).

     

    “Six are in Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia (China, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Viet Nam, the Democratic Republic of Korea) and four are in Central Asia and Southern Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan).”

     

    The World Bank said during the period of 2010 of 2019, the top five most populous low- and middle-income countries (China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Pakistan) increased their combined access rate by two per cent while progress in all other LMIC remained unchanged or stagnant over the same period.

     

    According to the report, to ensure no one is left behind, the political commitment and financial incentives must be prioritised in all access-deficit countries to achieve the universal target of SDG 7.

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.punchng.com