EFFECTIVE POWER SYSTEM PLANNING FOR OPTIMUM SYSTEM EXPANSION IN SOUTH- WEST NIGERIA

Abstract

The importance of power system, planning cannot be over emphasised, therefore the planning for the optimum expansion of South-West Nigeria power system was considered in this research work. The four generating plants in the south-west Nigeria were visited to assess their present level of performance and their effectiveness. Useful information on total installed capacity as well as monthly (MW) availability were collected from these stations. Also, the monthly peak demand and operational report as well as load flow diagram were collected. The mineral fuels available in the South West Nigeria were also itemised. The peak demand from 1997- 2020 AD were forecasted using the least square method. The available generation were diligently compared with the peak demand in south west. As at 1998, from operational report, 1285MW was the actual machine capability, while the available installed capacity was 1395MW out of the 3317MW original installed capacity. And the peak demand in 1996 was 1376MW. It was discovered that the power generation was far below the demand of the consumer. And this accounts for the incessant power outages and load shedding problems. To solve this problem, it is required that more power stations should be constructed in Ondo, and Edo States as well as Kogi State where we have oil/gas and coal respectively. The existing power stations should be rehabilitated. The newly constructed stations should serve the base load, while the old rehabilitated steams stations should be used for intermediate load, and gas turbine plant should be reserved for peak load periods.