Nigeria is targeting the ability to wheel 6,000 megawatts of electricity before December as the Federal Government steps up investment in the country’s transmission infrastructure.
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, disclosed this in Lagos while commissioning two 100 megavolt-amperes (MVA), 132/33 kilovolt (kV) transformers at the Ijora Transmission Substation.
Tegbe said the government also plans to commission 20 transmission projects before the end of the year as part of efforts to strengthen the national grid and improve its capacity to evacuate available electricity.
The minister said the focus was not simply on increasing generation but on ensuring that available power could be reliably transmitted to consumers.
“Let me put on record that the objective of this commitment is not just to generate more megawatts. The objective is to create a power system that can reliably deliver electricity to where it is needed, when it is needed, and at a quality and cost that supports economic activity,” he said.
Tegbe said the transmission network had historically been a major constraint in Nigeria’s power sector, stressing that increasing generation would have limited impact if the grid could not move the electricity to consumers.
“This is my second transmission project commissioning today, and we all agreed that before the end of the year, we should commission 20. The most important thing is to be able to wheel comfortably, 6,000 megawatts before December. Will that happen?” he asked.
Ijora capacity rises to 230MVA
The minister said the Ijora substation, located along an important economic corridor in Lagos, serves industries, ports, commercial centres and surrounding communities.
The original substation had three 30 MVA transformers, giving it a combined installed capacity of 90 MVA.
Two of the transformers have now been replaced with 100 MVA units, increasing the substation’s total installed capacity from 90 MVA to 230 MVA.
Tegbe said the upgrade represented an additional 125MW of bulk transmission capacity and would help improve electricity supply to Ijora, Costain, Oyigbo, Customs and Ajegunle, as well as businesses and consumers within the Eko Electricity Distribution Company franchise area.
Earlier, the minister unveiled a 2×60 MVA, 132/33 kV gas-insulated switchgear substation on Apapa Road, Lagos. The project was funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Tegbe said stronger transmission infrastructure was critical to President Bola Tinubu’s ambition of transforming Nigeria into a $1 trillion economy.
World Bank backs off-grid power
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s efforts to expand electricity access beyond the national grid are receiving further support through the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up (DARES) programme.
The World Bank originally approved a $750 million credit for Nigeria’s DARES project in 2023, with the programme designed to leverage more than $1 billion in private capital and provide new or improved electricity access to more than 17 million Nigerians through mini-grids and standalone solar systems.
The programme is being implemented to reach households, businesses and public institutions in underserved and off-grid communities, where extending the conventional grid can be difficult or costly.
The initiative is also expected to boost private-sector participation in renewable energy by creating opportunities for mini-grid developers, solar companies, equipment suppliers and other businesses across the clean-energy value chain.
Recent regulatory changes to Nigeria’s mini-grid framework are also expected to give developers greater scope to deploy distributed renewable-energy projects. Industry reporting indicates that the revised rules have increased allowable capacities for isolated and interconnected mini-grids.
The World Bank says distributed renewable-energy solutions can help Nigeria expand electricity access while reducing reliance on expensive and polluting petrol and diesel generators.
