Nigerian Govt Grants MTN, Others Permits To Generate Electricity

The federal government has issued permission to MTN Communications Nigeria Limited, Havenhill Synergy, Golden Penny Power Limited and others for mini-grid electricity generation.

The government through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, issued nine new off-grid generation licences in the first quarter of 2024 with a gross capacity of 109.69 megawatts and 3 new trading licences.

MTN was permitted to build four captive generation plants with 15.94MW capacity across Lagos State.

Armilo Plastics Limited, SweetCo Foods Limited, West African Ceramics Limited, African Steel Mills Nigeria Limited and Royal Engineered Stones Limited were permitted to generate captive power.

Golden Penny Power Limited granted a licence to build 6 off-grid gas plants in Oyo, Cross River, Ogun and Lagos states. The total capacity is 100MW.

“Captive power generation permits are issued to entities that aim to maintain and own power plants for generating power for consumption and not for sale to a third party. The commission issued nine captive power permits in 2024/Q1 with a total nameplate capacity of 52.57MW.”

Other licensed companies who are beneficiaries for mini-grids are Daybreak Power Solutions, Auro Nigeria Private Limited, TIS Renewable Energy Limited, Watts Exchange Limited, Centum Dopemu Energy Services Ltd and DMD Electric Limited Lagos State.

Section 165(1)(m) of the Electricity Act 2023 permits NERC to award licence of mini-grid concessions to renewable energy companies to exclusively serve a specific geographical location indicating aggregate electricity to be generated & distributed from a site with the obligation to serve customers to request service.

“Following the satisfactory evaluation of mini-grid applications, NERC issued three mini-grid permits and 2 registration certificates in 2024/Q1,” the commission stated.