Zungeru hydropower plant must reach full 700MW capacity, ICRC tells stakeholders amid current 350MW output
The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has ordered stakeholders to ensure the $1.3 billion, 700-megawatt Zungeru Hydropower Plant operates at full capacity, revealing it currently supplies only 350 megawatts to Nigeria's National Grid despite its design. Director General Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh made this directive at a stakeholders' meeting on October 8 including the Federal Ministries of Power and Water Resources, the Bureau of Public Enterprises, and concessionaire Penstock Limited.
The plant, handed over to Penstock Limited in 2024 under a PPP arrangement financed by a $1.3 billion loan from China's Exim Bank, was projected to generate 2.64 billion kilowatt-hours annually—enough to meet nearly 10% of Nigeria's domestic energy needs while providing flood protection and irrigation water. Its current half-capacity operation undermines President Bola Tinubu's pledge to resolve the nation's power crisis, with ICRC emphasizing that PPP assets like Zungeru cannot be allowed to underperform.
Ewalefoh noted that signing concession agreements is merely the first step, stressing that actual implementation of PPP terms delivers results, with risks shared between parties—not favors. The ICRC will submit a final report to President Tinubu on Zungeru and other PPP-operated plants (Kainji, Jebba, Shiroro, Dadinkowa, Kashimbila) after stakeholders reconvene to address identified legal and operational hurdles. For Nigerians, this means potential for improved but uncertain power supply as Africa's largest hydropower project struggles to reach its promised output amid ongoing national energy challenges.
Will full operation of the Zungeru plant significantly improve your daily power supply, or should Nigerians demand broader reforms beyond fixing individual plants to solve the country's persistent electricity deficit?