Nigerian companies’ efforts to meet their respective power demand in the face of worsening supply have resulted to a whopping generation of about 1,457 megawatts (mw) off-grid electricity, about 36 percent of Nigeria’s 4000mw grid energy, BusinessDay has learnt.
The big power consuming firms, especially multinationals and manufacturing concerns, have in recent years disengaged from the national grid due to poor supply and over-bloated charges. They therefore invested in generating their own power off-grid through captive power plants, which cumulatively has been put at 1,457mw.
The companies’ efforts, according to sources, have led to cheap power, which has boosted gross margins and profitability. However, the gains by the companies, may adversely affect the fortunes of new investors in the sector who may have the Herculean task of winning the companies back on grid.
BusinessDay analysis shows that the captive power plants built by the various companies are helping them to remain competitive, which may make it difficult for the privatised generating companies (GENCOs) and distribution companies (DISCOs) to get them back on the grid in the short term.
Some of the companies that have invested in captive power plants include Lafarge WAPCO (90mw), Dangote Cement (258mw) at Obajana and Ibeshe, Western Metal Product Company Limited (WEMPCO) 52mw, Nigerian Breweries plc (16.8mw), Guinness Nigeria’s Ogba brewery (9.3mw), and Nestle Nigeria plc (3mw
0 comments:
Post a Comment