Nigeria’s transmission network will soon receive a boost as the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) plans to invest over $1.5 billion (N540 billion) in relevant infrastructure.

The investment is expected to tackle the transmission inadequacies in the power sector. The development comes as Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, says the production of electricity from power plants across Nigeria has reached 7,001 MegaWatts (MW) from the 2,069mw recorded in 2015.

The Executive Secretary of the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Dr. Joy Ogaji, had told The Guardian that even though the generation companies (Gencos) have power generation capacity of 12,500 MegaWatts (MW) per day and with expansion capacity of doubling it, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the distribution companies (Discos) have ill-equipped infrastructure to evacuate and distribute the generated power.

But the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Chinedu Ugbo, yesterday, at The Guardian Power Summit, “Beyond Rhetoric: Turning Nigeria’s Power Sector Value Chain Potential to Profit,” disclosed that NDPHC has embarked on several transmission, distribution and gas projects to bridge infrastructure gap in the sector.

Ugbo listed the transmission projects to include a 5,590 MVA of 330/132kV transformer capacity; 313 MVA of 132/33kV transformer capacity; 2,194 km of 330kV lines; 809 km of 132kV lines; 10 new 330kV S/Stations; seven new 132kV S/Stations and expansion of 36 existing 330kV and 132kV S/Station.

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