Precious Anga
Lagos — Nigeria’s grid-connected power plants operated at an average 86 per cent of available capacity in August 2026, with 656 megawatts, MW, of generation capacity left unused, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC.
NERC, in its August 2026 Factsheet released on Thursday, said the plants had an average available capacity of 4,758MW during the month, while average hourly generation stood at 4,102MW.
The figures indicate that although the power generation fleet maintained relatively high utilisation, the system was still unable to deploy all available capacity to the grid.
At plant level, several facilities recorded utilisation rates above 90 per cent. Afam_2 operated at 99 per cent, generating 262MW out of 265MW available, while Kainji_1 recorded 98 per cent, with 345MW generated from 352MW available.
Egbin_1 operated at 96 per cent, generating 333MW from 347MW available, while Ihovbor_2 recorded 92 per cent after generating 418MW from an available 454MW.
Other major plants recorded lower utilisation rates, including Delta_1 at 80 per cent, Zungeru_1 at 72 per cent, Odukpani_1 at 74 per cent, Shiroro_1 at 87 per cent, Jebba_1 at 83 per cent and Okpai_1 at 87 per cent.
Some plants achieved full utilisation during the month. Olorunsogo_1 generated its entire available capacity of 115MW, while Omoku_1 and Igbafо_1 also recorded 100 per cent load factors. Omotosho_1 achieved 99 per cent, generating 148MW from 149MW available, while Dadin-Kowa_1 recorded 98 per cent.
However, NERC’s data also showed significant underutilisation across parts of the generation fleet. Afam_1 operated at 67 per cent, Ikeja_1 at 76 per cent and Ihovbor_1 at 79 per cent, while Sapele_2, Alaoji_1, Geregu_2 and Ibom Power_1 recorded zero generation during the month.
Beyond generation capacity utilisation, NERC flagged continued grid stability concerns, reporting breaches of prescribed frequency and voltage operating limits during August.
The commission put the average lower grid frequency at 49.34Hz and the average upper frequency at 50.67Hz, outside the prescribed range of 49.75Hz to 50.25Hz.
Grid voltage also breached the prescribed limits, with the monthly average lower voltage recorded at 302.29 kilovolts, kV, below the prescribed minimum of 313.50kV, while the average upper voltage reached 349.68kV, above the 346.50kV maximum.
The August data therefore point to a power system with relatively high utilisation of available generating capacity, but with a sizeable volume of capacity still not converted into electricity supplied to the grid, alongside persistent frequency and voltage stability challenges.
