Electricity: Enugu proposes 690MW, 20-hour power supply by 2030

By 2030, according to the Enugu State Government, the state would have gone from being an energy-poor one to one that can produce over 690 megawatts of electricity and at least 20 hours of power every day on a commercial basis.

The government further states that the state’s urgency in passing the Enugu State Electricity Law is in line with its economic growth plan to establish Enugu State as a premier industrial hub. This is because the state needs to quickly capitalize on the 2023 constitutional amendment and the Electricity Act 2023 to establish a sustainable Enugu electricity market and dependable energy supply.

Dr. Peter Mbah, the governor of Enugu State, revealed these during a roundtable discussion on Wednesday in Abuja for the state governments and important stakeholders. The discussion was titled “The Electricity Act 2023: Implications and Opportunities for State Electricity Market” and was organized by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and United Kingdom Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF).

The governor, accompanied by Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, Secretary to the State Government, stated that the state was taking its time in attempting to establish a conducive atmosphere for energy companies and investors to enter and assist in increasing the state’s GDP from its current level of $4.4 billion to $30 billion.

“As a government, we have set out an ambitious economic growth plan and integral to that plan is the electricity needs of Enugu State and the investors that will be coming into Enugu State.”

“So, keeping that in mind, what we have gone ahead to do is to set out the processes right after the constitutional amendment. We are creating our own Enugu State electricity market. Our key objective for doing this is to ensure the reliability of power that will serve as a catalyst for that growth by making the private sector actors feel comfortable to come to Enugu State.”

“Enugu State’s plan is to be one of the first three investors’ focus and locations in Nigeria; and to do that we have to make sure that we have constant or reliable power as well as encourage a market where investors feel that the power arrangement is governed by a process that is both constitutional and backed by the right policy. That is the reason we decided as a government for Enugu State to be one of the leading states in setting up an electricity market.”

He said a significant portion of the electricity sector would be renewable and traditional power sources

Also, speaking on the Enugu State experience in a panel discussion on “Closing the Energy Access Gap through Sub-national Electricity Markets: Doing Things Differently”, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Mbah on Policy and Project Management, Louisa Chinedu-Okeke, said the state currently had no operating grid-connected generation assets and only one electricity distribution company with just 9 per cent electricity allocation from the national grid for over five million people.

She, however, said the Mbah administration had laid out a viable plan to transit the state to a commercially viable electricity market that generates well over 690 megawatts of electricity and at least 20-hour power supply by 2030.

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