EU’s N7.6bn for Nigeria’s power transmission expansion excites stakeholders
Stakeholders in the nation’s power industry have hailed the recent announcement by the European Union (EU), pledging to support the expansion of Nigeria’s power transmission infrastructure with a grant of €25m (N7.6bn at the official exchange rate of N305 to one Euro).
Details gathered from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the grant will support the TCN on solar Independent Power Projects’ evacuation.
However, the Interim Managing Director of TCN, Usman Mohammed, in an interview added that the transmission firm was working towards a national peak power generation of 6,000 megawatts in the early part of 2018.
According to him, “The European Union has pledged to provide €25m grant to support the TCN on solar IPPs’ evaluation”.
“In the early part of 2017, our average peak load was about 4,000MW. However, on December 8, 2017, at 11pm, we recorded a new national peak of 5,155.9MW (previous national peak was 5,074.7MW, recorded on February 2nd, 2017 at 10pm). Together, we must work towards a national peak of 6,000MW in the early part of next year.
“The TCN has obtained consent and successfully submitted for the first time a proposal for extraordinary tariff review to NERC. If approved by NERC, it will significantly increase the TCN’s revenue and provide sufficient incentives to generators who provide ancillary services.”
