The Federal Government has grown the power capacity of the national grid from 13,000 megawatts (MW) a few years ago to about 14,000 MW.
This was done through the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), according to its Executive Secretary, Dr. Joy Ogaji.
On the sidelines of the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria’s 2023 annual international strategic conference last Thursday, Ogaji told The PUNCH that electricity generation capacity to the national grid has increased to almost 14,000MW.
She explained that the increase was brought about due to the addition of a $1.3 billion 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 $700 million per year for a period of 30 years to operate the plant.
According to The PUNCH, the 14,000MW claim by Ojagi, when checked 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.
