The total power generated and transmitted to Nigeria’s national grid neared the 5,000 megawatts (MW) mark on Monday, official data show.
Power generation in the country stood at 4,950.5MW as of 6am on Monday, up from 4,849.4MW on Sunday, according to data from the Nigeria Electricity System Operator (NESO).
The all-time peak generation ever attained in the country was 5,801.6MW, the data show.
The power generated as at 6:00am on Monday was 2,701.5MW less than the total generation capacity of 7,652MW, and 8,063.64 less than the installed generation capacity of 13,014.14MW.
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Last year, Sanusi Garba, chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, said in a press briefing in Lagos that the absence of commercial contracts underpinning transactions within the sector had been a major challenge and the commission was poised to resolve this.
“Effectively from July 1, all electricity market participants have committed to 5,000MW. We are currently moving to ensure that we achieve stability now and that is why the government is making investments to improve the grid so that 5,000MW will be our benchmark from July,” Garba said.
Power generation companies have also been compelled to sign contracts with gas suppliers for the required gas volumes to maintain the projected power delivery.
Eighty percent of Nigeria’s power generation is from gas-fired power plants and a lack of firm contracts has forced suppliers to prioritise other users, said Sanusi.
Garba had said that the commission was moving to ensure that all contracted gas volumes were fully paid for.
