Electricity generation: FG approves 11 new GenCos

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has revealed that it has issued 11 new electricity generation licenses.

This was disclosed in NERC’s newly released report that details its activities in the first quarter of 2022.

The regulator did not reveal the names of the new electricity generating companies and their capacities.

The approval of 11 new GenCos takes the country’s electricity generating plants to 40 as it had 29 of them- 26 gas plants, and three hydro plants- before the latest addition.

The 29 existing plants have a combined 13,461MW capacity, but they have been unable to generate up to 5000MW for some years.

Experts say Nigeria needs at least 30, 000MW to reach electricity sufficiency.

The NERC also said in the report that it also renewed two of the existing licenses and transferred one on-grid generation license.

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“In 2022/Q1, the commission approved the issuance of eleven (11) new generation licenses, renewal of two (2) existing licenses and transfer of one (1) on-grid generation license. The Commission also approved forty-one (41) mini-grid registration/permits and granted an aggregate capacity of 186.06MW captive power generation permits to seven (7) new companies. Twelve (12) Metering Service Providers (MSP) consisting of eight (8) meter installers, three (3) meter manufacturers and one (1) meter importer, were also approved by the Commission in 2022/Q1,” the report stated.

The Punch recently reported how 26 out of the plants’ capacity dropped by 26 per cent, while three are totally down, unable to generate a single megawatt.

According to data sourced from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, the drop in output occurred from January 2019 to December 2022.

The data showed that between January 2021 and December last year, the capacity of the 26 power plants dropped to 4522MW.

The power plants affected were Afam-IV-V, Alaoji NIPP, Azura Edo, Delta, Egbin, GBARAIN, Geregu, GereguNIPP, Ibom Power, Ihovbor NIPP, Jebba, Kainji, Odukpani, Okpai, Olorunsogo, Olorunsogo NIPP, Omoku, Omotosho, Omotosho NIPP, ParasEnergy, RiversIPP, Sapele, Sapele NIPP, Shiroro, and Trans Amadi.

On the other hand, three plants are currently down, unable to generate power between 2019 and 2022. The plants affected are AES, Dadinkowa and Asco.

In a bid to salvage power generation, Chairman, NERC, Sanusi Garba, told journalists in Lagos that the entire value chain of the power sector, comprising the DisCos, GenCos and TCN had signed a contract and they were committed to delivering 5,000MW per day of electricity to consumers, starting from July last year.