Egbin

Lagos, Dec. 20, 2023: Dr Olukayode Akinrolabu, a power expert, says the shut-down of the Egbin Power Station in Nigeria will have significant impacts on economic and commercial activities across the country in the next few days.

Akinrolabu said on Tuesday in Lagos that the impromptu and incalculable shut-down of Egbin Power Plant is fundamentally a major set back in all of the human and societal spheres.

The management of Transmission Company of Nigeria disclosed that the largest power station in the country, Egbin Power Station, with an installed capacity of 1,320 megawatts has been shut down.

The action is being embarked upon because the Nigerian Gas company that is the sole supplier of gas to the company has started doing maintenance jobs on its gas pipelines.

Akinrolabu who is the Chairman, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Customer Consultative Forum, Festac/Satellite Town, said every society relies on power supply for their daily business(organisations) and well-being (households).

He said, “Therefore, the sudden state of shut-down will spell low productivity for business colonies and dissatisfaction as well as disaffection for household consumers.

“The implications is that organisations who have to remain in business will resolve to alternative energy (solar or generating set) which will generate additional cost on production.

“This will definitely raise the price of goods.

“Household consumers will insure more in procuring petrol for their generators at the exorbitant rate and which is not affordable for all, hence the disaffection will set in, especially as the yuletide season approaches,” he said.

Akinrolabu said that investment or turnover rate on investment would be low as purchasing power would be slightly inhibited due to the shut-down.

“It will be expected that the business entities will incur more or extra cost on production, while turnover on investments will be lower compared to last week activities as the new week is marked by the loss of 1,320MW energy,” he added.

The Management of Egbin Power says its power plant at Egbin, Ikorodu, Lagos State, has resumed operations following the recent fire incident at the plant.

The company made this known in a statement posted on its website on Saturday.

It said: “Unit (STO5) was put back in service and synchronised to the national grid at 7:57 p.m. on Feb. 4 and is back on stream generating 220MW.

“The technical team at the plant is working tirelessly to ensure that an additional 660MW is added to the grid before the weekend runs out.

“Egbin continues to work with the regulatory authorities and other stakeholders to achieve full restoration in line with global health, safety, and environmental standards.”

The company thanked its employees, partners, stakeholders and the public for their unwavering support, cooperation and understanding.

It reiterated its commitment to bringing energy to life responsibly through safe, innovative and sustainable power generation.

Meanwhile, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said it had restored 180MW out of the 630MW shutdown in Egbin Power Station.

It noted that the ongoing load shedding in the Lagos axis was as a result of the fire incident, which occurred at Egbin Power Station on Wednesday.

TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, who made this known in a statement, recalled that the fire necessitated the shutdown of all the power generating units at the power plant.

She explained that with the shutdown of the units, a total of 630MW was removed from the grid.