The Federal Government, in partnership with the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), has successfully augmented the power capacity of the national grid over the past few years. This enhancement has seen the capacity rise from 13,000 megawatts to an impressive 14,000 MW.
Dr. Joy Ogaji, the Executive Secretary of APGC, shared this significant development during a conversation with reporters at the sidelines of the 2023 annual international strategic conference held by the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria last week. She underscored that the national grid’s electricity generation capacity now hovers around the 14,000 MW mark.
Dr. Ogaji went on to clarify that this notable increase can be attributed to the commissioning of the $1.3 billion Zungeru hydroelectric plant, a 700MW facility situated in Niger state. This plant commenced operations in the second quarter of the year, contributing significantly to the overall boost in power generation.
“The national grid now has an installed power generation capacity of about 14,000 megawatts, and this was made possible due to the Zungeru plant that came on stream this year,” she said, adding that it was an opportunity for interested investors to partner with the Gencos.
The Federal Government had in February, announced Mainstream Energy Solution Limited as the preferred bidder for the concession of the plant. The company had offered a fee of $700m per year for a period of 30 years to operate the plant.
Despite the 14,000MW claim by Ojagi, checks by The PUNCH on the records of the Nigerian Electricity System Operator showed that the latest on-grid peak power generation as of Saturday, was 4,803.60 MW.
Experts have said Nigeria needs at least 30,000MW to reach sufficiency.
