NERC issued 21 power generation licences in 2022 – Report

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission issued power generation licences to 21 investors in 2022, data obtained from the Federal Government agency has shown.

Findings showed the commission issued 114 registration/permits for the development of mini-grids to boost power supply across the country during the period.

The Federal Government and stakeholders in the power sector have been making efforts to increase the country’s power generation and supplies after the successor electricity generation and distribution arms of the sector were unbundled and privatised in November 2013.

Since then, Nigeria’s power generation has been hovering between 3,500 megawatts and 5,000MW, a figure which operators and experts described as too low for a population of over 200 million people.

According to data sourced from the Federal Ministry of Power, power generation on the national grid as of 6am Friday last week was 4,472MW, up from an off-peak of 3,989.5MW recorded on Thursday.

In its latest report on licensing and permits in the power sector, the commission stated that in the fourth quarter of 2022, it approved two power generation licences, with a combined capacity of 56.5MW, adding that 27 mini-grid registration/permits were issued in the same quarter.