Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has stated that the recent addition of 700 megawatts to Nigeria’s national grid could bring an end to the country’s frequent grid collapses.
Adelabu made this known during a meeting with the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot, at his office in Abuja.
A statement by the minister’s spokesperson, Bolaji Tunji, released on Sunday, confirmed the update.
According to Adelabu, the improvement in transmission capacity was achieved through the Presidential Power Initiative, commonly known as the Siemens project.
The initiative, backed by $2.3 billion in funding, aims to overhaul the country’s transmission infrastructure.Providing an update on the project, Adelabu said the pilot phase is nearly complete, with 90 percent of installations in place and functional .
“That has improved transmission capacity by over 700 megawatts, which is the result of what we are seeing now in terms of relative stability in the transmission grid,” he said.
The minister explained that the pilot phase involved the installation and activation of 10 power transformers and 10 mobile substations across the country.
Prior to the upgrades, the national grid reportedly became unstable whenever power supply neared 5,000 megawatts.“Before now, once supply entered 5,000 MW, the grid shook and collapsed,” he said.
“Now we are averaging between 5,000 and 8,000 MW. This is due to ongoing government interventions.”
He also noted that Nigeria recently achieved two milestones: a record average of 20,000 kilowatt-hours of daily power consumption and the highest-ever energy distribution of 5,801.63 MW.Despite these improvements, the country experienced at least two partial blackouts in 2025 due to grid disturbances.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) maintains that there have been no grid collapses this year, although it confirmed no fewer than twelve collapses occurred in 2024.
