According to the NOA, the discos can’t handle the amount of electricity they produce.
The NOA said in a statement on Tuesday, following the ninth breakdown of the national grid in 2024 alone, that the nation’s energy grid keeps collapsing because discos are unable to contribute despite rising generation.
With the help of the Siemens project and internal TCN initiatives, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has an installed wheeling capacity of more than 8.100 megawatts (MW) and can easily wheel out 6000MW of generated power.
In terms of generating, Nigeria’s national hydroelectric power plant, the 700MW Zungeru, went online in the second quarter of this year, Nigeria’s national grid now has an installed power generation capacity of about 13,610MW.
The combined active distribution capacity of the 11 Discos in Nigeria is still only about 4000MW, even with their 13,610MW generating and more than 8,000MW transmission capacities.
A three-year peak generation was reached just last month on September 2nd, however the Discos rejected nearly 1400MW of the 5,313MW created and rolled out that day because of the frailty of their systems.
“The national grid collapse is a result of these load rejections by discos,” the NOA stated.
The government agency also bemoaned the fact that, despite the government’s best efforts, the Discos’ actions deter investment in the country’s energy sector.
According to the report, the DisCos have been prevented from improving their distribution substations and facilities in order to accommodate more power for distribution to their customers since they have not been able to realize the benefits of their investments.
“Investment in the sector is discouraged by this atmosphere. But the Tinubu administration is taking on this long-standing issue head-on.
NOA highlighted the presidential metering initiative (PMI), cost-reflective tariffs for Band A customers, and $800 million for power substations and distribution upgrades as examples of the current administration’s efforts to address the nation’s power issues while praising President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
