As part of its aggressive push to transition from an energy poor state to a commercially viable electricity market, Enugu State government plans to generate over 690 megawatts of electricity and, at least, 20-hour per day power supply by 2030.
The government also says the urgency of the state in enacting the Enugu State Electricity Law to take immediate advantage of the 2023 constitution amendment and the Electricity Act 2023 to set-up a viable Enugu electricity market and reliable energy supply is in line with its economic growth plan to make Enugu a leading industrial hub.
Peter Mbah, the governor of the state, disclosed these at a Roundtable with the theme, ‘The Electricity Act 2023: Implications and Opportunities for State Electricity Market’ organised by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and United Kingdom Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF) for the state governments and critical stakeholders in Abuja recently.
The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Chidiebere Onyia, said the state was deliberate in its efforts to create an enabling environment for energy players and investors to come in and help grow the state’s GDP from the present $4.4 billion to $30 billion.
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“As a government, we have set out an ambitious economic growth plan and integral to that plan is the electricity needs of Enugu State and the investors that will be coming into the state.
“So, keeping that in mind, what we have gone ahead to do is to set out the processes right after the constitutional amendment. We are creating our own Enugu State electricity market. Our key objective for doing this is to ensure the reliability of power that will serve as a catalyst for that growth by making the private sector actors feel comfortable to come to Enugu State,” the SSG said.
He said that the state’s plan was to be one of the first three investors’ focus and locations in Nigeria, adding that, to do that, the state has to make sure that it has constant or reliable power as well as encourage a market where investors feel that the power arrangement is governed by a process that is both constitutional and backed by the right policy.
“That is the reason we decided as a government for the state to be one of the leading states in setting up an electricity market. A significant portion of the electricity sector would be renewable and traditional power sources, he said.
Also, speaking on the Enugu experience in a panel discussion on ‘Closing the Energy Access Gap through Sub-national Electricity Markets: Doing Things Differently’, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Policy and Project Management, Louisa Chinedu-Okeke, said the state currently had no operating grid-connected generation assets except one electricity distribution company with just 9 percent electricity allocation from the national grid for over five million people.
She, however, said the state government had laid out a viable plan to transit the state to a commercially viable electricity market that generates well over 690 megawatts of electricity and, at least, 20-hour power supply by 2030.
