As Nigeria continues to battle inadequate supply of electricity to power homes and businesses, over 8,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity lay idle in workshops of the 28 electricity generation companies that are connected to the national grid.
According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Nigeria’s 28 electricity power plants have a combined capacity to produce 13,625MW electricity, but due to some challenges, an average of 5,395.72MW is produced per hour.
Despite the little generation for a country that is stated to need over 30,000MW to meet its economy and population of over 200 million, only 3,781.94MW reach homes and industries owing to inefficiency on the transmission lines and distribution companies (DisCos).
For instance, an average of nine per cent of electricity generated on the grid does not get to the distribution companies in the first half of 2025 while the DisCos rejected an average of 191.49MW worth of electricity hourly in the first quarter of 2025 and 79.59MW in the second quarter.
Data from NERC showed that Nigeria’s biggest power plant is the Egbin plant with a generation capacity of 1320MW, but the plant generated an average electricity of 607.83MW in Q1 2025 which increased to 709.26MW in Q2.
This is followed by Delta plant with 900MW and the plant generated 489.80MW in Q1 which dropped to 440.83MW in Q2, then Kainji plant with 760MW but generated 501.58MW in Q1 and 473.65MW in Q2.
Next is Olorunsogo plant 2 with 750MW but generated a meagre 37.43MW in Q1 but slightly increased to 46.95MW in Q2, then Afam plant 1 with 726MW but also produced 73.48MW in Q1 which increased to 59.92MW in Q2.
Also, Sapele Steam plant 1 has a capacity of 720MW but produced 39.61MW in Q1 and 31.26MW in Q2 while Zungeru plant has a capacity of 700MW but generated 345.70MW in Q1 and 453.19MW in Q2.
Afam power plant 2 has a 650 capacity and produced 246.63MW in Q1 but reduced 223.79MW, Odukpani-1 has 625MW but generated 346.87MW in Q1 and 223.22MW in Q2 while Shiroro plant has 600MW with 332.86MW generated in Q1 and 346.11MW in Q2.
Jebba also has 578MW but produced 447.15MW in Q1 and 433.18 in Q2, Ihovbor plant 1 has the capacity to produce 500MW but generated as little as 51.32MW in Q1 and 67.16MW in Q2, while Omotosho plant 2 with the capacity of 500MW produced a little N60.85MW in Q1 and 59.89MW in Q2.
For the Alaoji plant with 500MW capacity, it did not produce anything while Sapele plant 2 with 500MW was only able to produce 97.91MW in Q1 and 105.46MW in Q2.
Okpai plant has 480MW capacity but produced 282.72MW in Q1 and 250.42MW in Q2 while Ihovbor plant 2 has 461MW capacity with 446.36MW generated in Q1 and 448.90MW in Q2.
Geregu plant 1 has 435MW capacity but produced 138.03MW in Q1 which was increased to 288.66MW in Q2, while Geregu plant 2 has the same capacity of 435MW but produced 227.29MW in Q1 and 220.77MW in Q2.
Omotosho plant 1 has 335MW but produced 166.05MW in Q1 and 145.33MW in Q2, while Olorunsogo plant with 335MW capacity generated 161.81MW in Q1 and 137.93MW in Q2. Ibom power has 190MW but produced 23.46MW in Q1 and 28.87MW in Q2 with Rivers plant producing 52.86MW in Q1 and 26.58MW in Q2 from its 180MW capacity.
Omoku plant has a 150MW capacity but produced 38.85MW in Q1 and 21.48MW in Q2, while Ikeja has 110MW capacity and produced 109.10MW in Q1 and 109.28MW in QS.
Similarly Trans Amadi plant has 100MW capacity but produced 4.75MW in Q1 and 5.93MW in Q2 while Igbafo plant has a capacity of 45MW but produces 20.23MW in Q1 and 20.22MW in Q2, with Dadin-Kowa plant having a 40MW capacity but produced 16.36MW in Q1 and 17.49MW in Q2.
According to NERC, electricity generated from power plants fluctuates based on grid demand, mechanical operability of the unit(s), and the availability of feedstock.
It said plants are only dispatched when the load on the grid is sufficient to offtake the energy while operating the grid within acceptable technical limits.
It listed the factors that determine the dispatch of a plant to include: plant availability (mechanical and feedstock), load offtake on the grid and financial competitiveness of the plant in the economic merit order dispatch.
Also the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, recently stated that the inability to increase demand of electricity on the national grid has stalled generation between 5,000 to 4,000 megawatts (MW) by the 28 electricity generation companies connected to the grid.
Adelabu who stated that despite the 28 companies having over 13,000MW of installed capacities and the transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) with 8,000MW of evacuation capacity, generation companies can not go beyond the current generation of 4,500 due to demand not exceeding the figure.
“In Nigeria, while we have not been able to take more than 5,000 megawatts, it is the demand that is required as we have the capacity. The evacuation grid can take 8,500 and is also increasing its capacity. But the demand must be equal to the generation and equal to the consumption at any time. So that’s why we are appealing to the state regulators and state distribution companies to increase consumption. That’s the only way the creation of a state market would have made an impact in the market.”
But beyond power plants generating more than the 5,000MW they currently do, the President of Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, Kunle Olubiyo, said there are other challenges that would prevent end-users from getting the increased electricity.
He said the first is the Transmission line able to evacuate only 8,000MW generated on the grid, adding the government will have to build more transmission lines to be able to evacuate the entire 13,000mw the power plants can generate.
Olubiyo said on the existing line, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is currently underfunded and in intensive care to carry out effective transmission of electricity.
He said the transmission sub-sector, despite serving as a link between the north and south as well as a link between generation upstream and distribution downstream, lacks the requisite resources to carry out mechanised vegetation control.
The president pointed at the lack of funds for line tracing and faults patrol of the existing infrastructure.
“Lots of transmission towers that have been impacted by erosion have not been repaired due to lack of funds to carry out the reinforcement of such transmission towers.
“There are higher incidents of obsolete transmission lines on the grid. So, the sub-sector in its present state is like using a vehicle or generator without plans and without making budgetary provision routine maintenance.”
On the distribution side, he said DisCos will always prioritise areas where they can recoup their funds for more electricity as there are some areas where DisCos can’t recoup 30 per cent of their revenue even if they provide 24 hours power supply.
“That’s why you see most of the DisCos across the world, even where energy is available, we have what we call load rejection because they are benchmarking what they can take. So, they look at the commercial viability of their customers.”
“So, the issue is that of energy theft, load rejection and the dearth of the right kind of equipment that’s supposed to be used in the management of grid network, system operation and control”,he added.
Olubiyo stated that there was the need for the DisCos to also make investment to expand their areas of coverage as without more customers on the grid, electricity will always be rejected if the current distribution networks are not expanded.
▪Courtesy:Daily Trust.
