Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) refutes report on Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Privatisation.
The FGN, recently refuted reports that it was set to privatise TCN. The Special Adviser to the Minister of Power, Mallam Isa Sanusi, stated in a recent publication, that reports claiming that TCN would be privatised in the coming months were misleading and false. He stated that TCN remains the focal point in the Federal Government’s plan to optimize the power sector.
There has been concerns over the ability of the FGN to adequately fund the investment required to upgrade the facilities of the TCN. Nigeria has experienced about seven (7) total or partial grid failures in 2022, a lot of which has been attributed to the failings of the transmission infrastructure. This has therefore led to increased calls for the privatisation of TCN to resolve these issues. The TCN claims that it has a total transmission capacity of 7,500MW as at date though that is still short of the available generation capacity of 12,522MW. There has been significant focus on Distribution Companies (Discos) and their capacities given that they are much closer to end users but there are significant improvements required from a transmission standpoint to improve energy access and efficiency in the country.
Transmission infrastructure is also a key focus of the FGN/Siemens Energy deal.
India to support Nigeria in Solar Energy Infrastructure, Fintech, Artificial Intelligence.
Nigeria is currently collaborating with India on improving its solar energy capacity and infrastructure. The High Commissioner of India to Nigeria, Gangadharan Balasubramanian, mentioned that the collaboration is aimed at improving solar energy, finance technology (Fintech), and artificial intelligence during an event organized to mark the 76th anniversary of India in Abuja recently.
Furthermore, he mentioned that both countries are committed to bilateral cooperation that would improve their economies.
India has one of the highest installed capacity of solar energy in the world contributing about 6.5% to the global cumulative capacity as at date. It is therefore, commendable that the FGN is collaborating with India to improve solar capacity in the country.
However, the details of the collaboration haven’t yet been released. Nigeria currently does not have a single on grid solar energy plant even though about 14 companies reached some form of agreement with the National Bulk Energy Trading Company (NBET) in 2014. Those agreements were never finalised and none of the 14 companies have been able to reach financial close or commence actual construction of their solar plants. It is hoped that this collaboration will help drive the development of on-grid solar capacity in the country.
