Yemisi Izuora
Businesses and households in Lagos would soon begin to enjoy uninterrupted electricity supply following plans by the state government to establish its own electricity market to ensure more reliable power supply.
Under the arrangement energy generation, transmission and distribution is overseen by the central government, stated Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources Olalere Odusote in a consultation paper.
Lagos hosts headquarters of most large international and domestic businesses present in Africa’s largest economy, contributes about 25 per cent of gross domestic product and more than half of industrial and commercial output.
Odusote, in the paper affirmed plans by the state government to bring together generation, transmission and distribution to be owned and operated substantially by the private sector and supervised by a regulator.
Companies using gas and renewable energy will feed the Lagos grid, which will be connected to its national counterpart and complemented by off-grid alternatives such as standalone solar solutions. Gas-fired plants already account for about 80% of Nigeria’s electricity capacity.
Inadequate energy supply in Lagos is the “single biggest infrastructure and developmental challenge,” Odusote said.
With a fast-expanding population of about 27 million people, Lagos state currently receives an average of about 1,000 megawatts for no more than 12 hours a day, he said, adding that the state requires nine times as much power around the clock.
Nigeria privatized generation and distribution infrastructure about a decade ago, but held onto its transmission network.
However, inadequate maintenance and insufficient investment have resulted in only about 4,500 megawatts of the country’s 13,000 megawatt installed capacity being dispatched by the grid daily a fraction of what’s needed in a nation of more than 200 million people.
Frequent power outages in Lagos mean available supply is “essentially unusable for most manufacturing and industrial processes” so that companies must produce their own electricity, the energy commissioner said. Commercial and residential customers are left relying upon expensive generators during blackouts, while most of the state’s households aren’t registered as connected to the grid at all, he said.
Lagos’ government intends to publish an electricity policy before July and submit a draft law for the sector’s development to the state’s legislative assembly in the third quarter, according to the Commissioner.