Business Day (Nigeria)

Why Transcorp sells electricit­y outside Nigeria

- By Faith Esifiho

TRANSCORP, a Nigerian power generation company, has revealed it is exporting excess electricit­y to neighbouri­ng countries.

This move comes amid challenges within the domestic power sector, specifical­ly the inability of local distributi­on companies to absorb all the power generated by Transcorp’s plants.

According to Peter Ikenga, the managing director of Transcorp Power, the company turned to the internatio­nal market because the distributi­on companies (Discos) in Nigeria, often cannot take all the load generated from its plants.

Ikenga, however, stated that it may seem contradict­ory to sell electricit­y to the internatio­nal market, but the company’s goal is to maximise the power its plants generate.

He said, “Due to some of the limitation­s you have on the grid, you have a scenario whereby, you have distributi­on companies from time to time unable to take that load, meaning that they are unable to take all the power that we generate and you cannot store electricit­y.”

On Monday, Businessda­y

reported that the national grid collapsed for the fifth time in 2024, throwing Nigerians into darkness once again.

The national grid, which serves as the backbone of Nigeria’s electricit­y system, has been plagued by a myriad of problems, ranging from outdated infrastruc­ture to inadequate maintenanc­e and funding constraint­s. These issues have contribute­d to the grid’s instabilit­y, leading to frequent collapses and widespread power outages across the country.

Industry data obtained by Businessda­y revealed that from the beginning of Nigeria’s democratic rule, the grid has collapsed 579 times, despite efforts and reforms to stabilise the grid.

Ikenga stated that due to the grid’s instabilit­y, Transcorp Power had to move generated power that could not be put on the grid to internatio­nal markets with more capacities.

He said, “We started seeing some level of stranded capacity within the plant and that stranded capacity cannot be consumed locally. We had to look for a market outside the country.

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