The Federal Government through the Association of Power Generation Companies has grown the power capacity of the national grid from 13, 000megawatts recorded a few years ago to about 14,000 MW.
APGC’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Joy Ogaji, while speaking with The PUNCH on the sideline of the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria’s 2023 annual international strategic conference last week Thursday, said electricity generation capacity to the national grid has increased to almost 14,000MW.
Dr Ogaji explained that the increase was brought about due to the addition of a $1.3bn Niger state-based 700MW Zungeru hydroelectric plant which came on stream in the second quarter of the year.
“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.