THERE is an opportunity for investors in Nigeria’s power sector. The sector requires an investment of $5 billion (N1.8 trillion) in the next five years to solve transmission challenges. The national grid, which comprises of 330kV and 132kV networks currently, has a wheeling capability of 5,300 megawatts (MW) against 6,600MW installed capacity under constrained loading conditions.

The federal government, which made this known in a document titled: “Investment Opportunities in Nigeria’s Power Sector,” stated that the network is underutilised, which creates instability and frequent outages. The report said due to paucity of funding through the federal government budgetary allocations, the sector is seeking different models of financing such as contractor finance of new transmission projects, rehabilitate operate and transfer, ROT, and management contract.

Besides, global electricity investment edged down a little under one per cent to $718 billion, with an increase in spending on networks, partially offsetting a drop in power generation. Investment in new renewables-based power capacity, at $297 billion, remained the largest area of electricity spending, despite falling back by three per cent.

—  Jul 31, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT