Power generation ‘to hit 100,000mw by 2030’

The Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) has predicted that Nigeria will be able to generate 100,000 megawatts of power by 2030.

Eli Bala, ECN director-general, made this known on Monday in an interview with NAN.

He said the projection would be possible with an annual economic growth rate of seven percent and steady implementation of the national energy plan by the federal ministry of power, works and housing.

“With the incremental power programme; every time, every year, we must have an increment in power generation,” he said.

“We will also increase our capacity to transmit as well as the capacity to distribute. So I think we are on course, although it is not easy.

“Very soon, we will get to a level where we will have a 100,000 megawatt or 100 gigawatts by 2030 and the economy growing at the rate of about seven percent annually.”

Noting that the mandate of the commission is to produce strategic plans and coordinate national policies, Bala said: “If you look at the strategic plans we have produced, we produced energy master plan and in particular with respect to electricity generation.”

He said the commission was the first to articulate the various energy mix, including renewable and nuclear energy.

“We made a plan in such a manner that we project by 2030, if the economy is to grow at seven percent, we need nothing less than 100 gigawatts of electricity capacity,” he said.

“And you know our politicians want the economy to grow by double-digits. If the economy is to grow by double-digit, we need nothing less than 300 gigawatts by 2030.

“I think knowing what you want is a very important thing. If you don’t know what you want, you are going nowhere.”