By Ikenna Omeje

Nigeria’s power improves, as the country has recorded an all-time 5,377 megawatts (MW) peak generation, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says the power sector has recorded an all-time 5,377 megawatts (MW) peak generation.

In a statement, TCN said the new record, which was achieved on August 1, surpasses the previous 5,375MW recorded on the national grid in 2019. This new record shows an increase of 2.8MW.

“The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby states that it has recorded an enhanced all time peak generation of 5,377.8 MW on 01/08/2020 at 21:30hrs,” the TCN said.

“The new peak, which surpasses the previous one recorded on 07/02/2019 by 2.8MW, was successfully transmitted to distribution load centres nationwide.”

According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the generation sub-sector presently includes 23 grid-connected generating plants in operation with a total installed capacity of 10,396 MW (available capacity of 6,056 MW) with thermal based generation having an installed capacity of 8,457.6MW (available capacity of 4,996 MW) and hydropower having 1,938.4 MW of total installed capacity with an available capacity of 1,060 MW. This comprises of the privatized GenCos, Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and the generating stations under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP).

IPPs are power plants managed by the private sector prior to the privatisation process. These include Shell operated – Afam VI (642MW), Agip operated – Okpai (480MW), Ibom Power, NESCO and AES Barges (270MW).