The Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria has said the country expects to transmit an additional 1,500 megawatts of electricity by the end of 2026, after nearly doubling its transmission capacity in the past two years.
This is coming on the heels of record-breaking electricity peak generation attained this week.
Speaking to reporters at the nation’s capital today, the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria said the nation will increase its power generation capacity.
“I can confidently state that in less than two years from now, the Transmission Company of Nigeria will conveniently evacuate 10,000 megawatts of generated power”, Director Sule Ahmed said.
“The West African nation is installing new transmission lines, restoring old ones and building substations “to make sure that access capacity can be transmitted,” he added.
Over the past two years, the country has increased its transmission capacity by more than 80%, reaching 8,500 megawatts.
This expansion was made possible through funding from the government and support from donor agencies like the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, according to Director Ahmed.
Increased capacity should bolster President Bola Tinubu’s plans to improve electricity supply to accelerate economic growth.
Nigeria suffers from constant power cuts as its more than 200 million people rely on grid electricity of 5,800 megawatts from an installed capacity of 13,000 megawatts, despite an abundance of gas and hydropower capabilities.
The World Bank estimates the economic cost of power shortages in Nigeria at around $25 billion – equivalent to 5% to 7% of its gross domestic product.
Nigeria last year tripled energy prices to attract new investment and slash $2.3 billion it spent to cap tariffs. Even now, the government plans to review electricity tariff rates for some electricity consumers.
The TCN, yesterday, announced a peak generation milestone of 5,801.84 MW achieved on March 4, 2025. T
he TCN also recorded a maximum daily energy of 128, 370.75MW, the highest ever recorded in the country’s electricity industry.
The achievement comes despite the challenges plaguing Nigeria’s electricity sector.
Additionally, on February 14, 2025, the sector recorded a peak generation of 5,543.20MW and a maximum daily energy of 125,159.48MWh, both of which were efficiently transmitted to distribution load centers by TCN.
