The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Authority (NERC) has granted licenses for mini-grid generation to companies such as Golden Penny Power Limited, MTN Communications Nigeria Limited, and Havenhill Synergy.
NERC announced that it has issued nine new licenses for off-grid generation with a total capacity of 109.69 megawatts and three new trading licenses in the first quarter of 2024.
According to the commission’s report, Golden Penny Power Limited was granted licenses to build six off-grid gas-fired power plants in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, and Cross River states with a total capacity of 100 MW.
MTN also received approval to build four captive power plants with a capacity of 15.94 MW in Lagos State. In addition to MTN, SweetCo Foods Limited, African Steel Mills Nigeria Limited, West African Ceramics Limited, Royal Engineered Stones Limited, and Armilo Plastics Limited have also been permitted to generate their own electricity.
“Captive power generation permits are issued to entities that aim to own and maintain power plants for generating power for consumption and not for sale to a third party. The commission issued nine captive power generation permits in 2024/Q1 with a total nameplate capacity of 52.57MW.
Our correspondent learned that other approved mini-grid companies are Daybreak Power Solutions, TIS Renewable Energy Limited, Auro Nigeria Private Limited, Watts Exchange Limited, Centum Dopemu Energy Services Ltd, and DMD Electric Limited Lagos State.
Section 165(1)(m) of the Electricity Act, 2023, enables the Commission to grant mini-grid concession licenses to renewable energy companies that exclusively serve a particular geographical location. This specifies that the site will generate and distribute the total electricity with a commitment to serve customers who request the service.
Within this framework, the Commission said it has further promoted the development and utilization of renewable energy by issuing permits and registration certificates for mini-grid development.
Mini-grid developers are given permission to construct, operate, maintain, and, where necessary, own mini-grids with a distribution capacity of more than 100 kilowatts and a generation capacity of up to 1 MW.
The Commission announced that it will issue registration certificates to mini-grid developers for one or more systems with a distribution capacity of less than 100 kW.
“Following the satisfactory evaluation of mini-grid applications, the commission issued three mini-grid permits and two registration certificates in 2024/Q1,” NERC said.
NERC said it certified a total of six-meter service providers during the reporting period, including four-meter installers and two-meter manufacturers. Meter service providers are companies authorized by the European Commission as manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and installers of electricity meters and/or metering systems.
Metering equipment providers are companies authorized by the European Commission to provide metering services including financing, procurement, supply, installation, maintenance, and replacement of meters.
The authorized meter service providers are Genobet Limited (installer), Mojec Meter Asset Management (installer), Epagad International Services Limited (installer), Abdulrahman Ahmadu Zubairu (installer), Smart Meters Company Limited (manufacturer), and Crestflow Energy Limited (manufacturer).
The European Commission also announced that it has issued one regulation and 36 new orders in the first quarter of 2024.
These include; NERC-R-001-2024 – Eligible Customers Regulation 2024.
NERC/2023/023 – NERC/2023/033 – Multi-Year Tariff Number for Distributors 2024 and NERC/2023/034 – MYTO 2024 for Transmission Company of Nigeria Plc.
Others include NERC/2023/035 – Nigerian Electricity Transmission Companies Performance Improvement Plan Order. NERC/2024/001 – Regulatory Action Order against Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc.
NERC/2024/004 – NERC/2024/014 – Order for non-compliance with estimated billing cap by electricity distribution companies from January to September 2023, and NERC/2024/016 – NERC/2024/036 – Supplementary Order to Multi-Year Tariff Order against Electricity Distribution Companies, February 2024.
During the quarter, the Commission issued 36 orders to regulate the activities of licensees.
