The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced a new milestone in the country’s power sector, achieving a peak generation of 5,713.6 megawatts (MW) on March 2, 2025. The power was successfully transmitted across the national grid, marking a 170MW increase from the previous peak of 5,543.20MW recorded on February 14, 2025.
However, the new peak generation still falls short of Nigeria’s all-time maximum peak of 5,801.60MW, reached on March 1, 2021. The record-setting event occurred at 21:30 hours on Tuesday, highlighting TCN’s continued efforts to enhance the country’s power generation and transmission capacity.
In addition to the peak generation milestone, Nigeria’s electricity industry also set a new record for daily energy transmission, achieving 125,542.06 megawatt-hours (MWh) on March 2, 2025. This surpassed the previous record of 125,159.48MWh set on February 14, 2025, by 382.58MWh. TCN noted in its statement that this achievement represents the highest daily energy transmission ever recorded in Nigeria’s electricity industry.
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Implications for Nigeria’s Power Sector
The new milestone is seen as a positive step towards improving Nigeria’s electricity supply, which has long been plagued by inadequate generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure. While this achievement underscores TCN’s enhanced capacity to manage power loads across the national grid, industry analysts caution that the gains may not translate into improved electricity access for households and businesses unless distribution bottlenecks are addressed.
Nigeria’s power sector is notorious for its inability to efficiently deliver electricity from generation companies (GenCos) through transmission (TCN) to distribution companies (DisCos), ultimately reaching end users. The transmission potential of 8,100 MW that TCN boasts of remains largely underutilized due to constraints within the distribution network, including outdated infrastructure, poor maintenance, and limited grid capacity.
Experts warn that unless these challenges are addressed, increased power generation will not significantly alleviate the power supply issues faced by Nigerians. They recommend targeted investments in distribution infrastructure and regulatory reforms that encourage efficiency and competition in the power sector.
The recent achievement is part of a series of record-breaking performances by TCN in recent years. In February 2025, TCN announced a peak generation of 5,543.20MW, which had surpassed the previous high of 5,478.73MW. The Maximum Daily Energy of 125,159.48MWh achieved then was also a record, exceeding the earlier milestone of 121,674.88MWh set on February 7, 2025, by 3,484.60MWh.
Further back, on January 8, 2021, TCN reported a peak transmission of 5,552.80MW, demonstrating a consistent but slow upward trend in generation capacity. At that time, the peak transmission at a frequency of 50.08Hz had surpassed the October 30, 2020, record of 5,520.40MW.
However, while TCN celebrates this milestone, Nigerians remain unimpressed, with many arguing that the achievement is far from meeting the country’s actual needs. Experts have pointed out that Nigeria requires an estimated 30,000MW for a stable and reliable power supply, making the latest peak generation a modest gain in a sector long plagued by inefficiencies.
Challenges and the Way Forward
Nigeria’s power sector continues to grapple with significant challenges. Distribution companies often struggle with capacity limitations, leading to frequent load shedding and blackouts. The sector is also burdened by liquidity issues, with many DisCos struggling to recover costs due to poor metering systems and billing inefficiencies.
This power generation gap has forced many industries to either scale down operations or shut down entirely, leading to job losses and compounding the unemployment crisis in the country. The power situation has also discouraged foreign investment, as many investors cite the unreliable electricity supply as a significant obstacle to doing business in Nigeria.
Analysts believe that for Nigeria to fully realize the benefits of increased power generation, comprehensive reforms are needed. These include enhancing grid infrastructure, implementing effective metering systems, and promoting investments in renewable energy sources to diversify the energy mix. Additionally, clear policies that support privatization and liberalization of the power market could help attract investments and drive efficiency.