The Federal Government is in advanced talks with China’s Export-Import Bank for a $2 billion loan to build a new electricity super grid designed to tackle Nigeria’s long-standing power supply challenges.
According to Bloomberg, the proposed grid project is to strengthen power transmission across the eastern and western regions of the country, where most industrial consumers are based.
Speaking on the plan at the Expert Forum on ‘Uninterrupted Power: The Industrial Imperative’ organised by the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, explained that it is part of efforts to decentralise power generation and encourage heavy energy users who left the national grid due to its unreliability to reconnect.
“It’s part of plans to decentralise power generation in Nigeria and get the heavy commercial users that left the power grid because of its unreliability to return,” Adelabu said.
According to Bloomberg, the minister’s team confirmed that negotiations with China’s Exim Bank were progressing, while the financing for the super grid had already received cabinet approval.
Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity is about 13 gigawatts, but only a third of that reaches consumers through the central grid, which frequently experiences system collapses.
The unreliable power supply has forced many companies to depend on self-generated electricity, now accounting for nearly half of national consumption.
The new super grid, according to Adelabu, will improve power flow to industrial zones and encourage manufacturing growth.
Adelabu also said the policy led to a 70 per cent rise in revenue for electricity distribution companies in 2024, with further growth projected to reach N2.4 trillion ($1.6 billion) this year.
