The Minister of State for Power, Mrs Zainab Kuchi has disclosed that the Federal Government intends to achieve 10,000MW of electricity generation by December 2013.
Mrs Kuchi made this declaration at a presentation to the Presidential Action Committee on Power in Abuja also disclosed that by the end of 2012, generation capacity of Nigeria’s power sector was 6442MW while actual generation had peaked on December 23 at 4516.7MW.
Even though former President Olusegun Obasanjo had once set the ambitious target of 10,000MW by the end of 2007, it had been lowered by successive administrations as several factors such as non-availability of gas, breakdown and inadequate evacuation capacity prevented the translation of generation capacity into actual power available to consumers.
Kuchi also said that in 2013, her ministry had put the diversification of nation’s energy sources, increasing access to electricity by rural dwellers and stimulating investment in the sector by fostering bilateral relations were top on the priority list.
“The ministry would focus on developing new policy initiatives to address post-privatization challenges,” she said.
She also disclosed the readiness of the 10MW wind farm in Katsina for inauguration which was being delayed to the security challenges in the area.
Kuchi also said arrangements had been concluded to collect a loan from the African Development Bank to support the expansion of the nation’s transmission capacity.
Among the achievements in power transmission, she listed the inauguration of 239km of 330KV transmission line, the completion of 21km of 132KV of transmission line, and the inauguration of 600MVA 330/132/33KV substation capacity.