Sixty-eight per cent of the installed capacity of the power plants connected to the national grid was available for dispatch in February 2026, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). However, only 4,384MW, being 32 per cent of the 13,625MW installed capacity was available for production.
This was made known in its February 2026 Operational Performance Factsheet showing a breakdown of how Nigeria’s grid-connected power plants performed in the month.
NERC said: “Plant Availability Factor (PAF): 32 per cent, showing that an average of 4,384 MW was available for dispatch out of 13,625 MW installed capacity.” The factsheet added that 4,102MW/h being 93 per cent was used in terms of load factor.
This is an indication of high load nomination from the electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) in the month under review.
According to NERC, in February, top energy producers: Ihovbor_2, Kainji_1, and Jebba_1 stood out with strong availability and high utilisation levels. The factsheet said the top 10 producers accounted for 82 per cent of the total energy generated during the month.
Of the 28 power plants listed in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) in February, only Geregu 1 operated at installed capacity, generating 100 per cent of its 106MWh/h installed capacity.
Ikeja 1 produced 95 per cent being 104MW of its 110W installed capacity while Kainji generated 99 per cent of 574MWh/h and Ihovbor 2 produced 91 per cent being 404MWh/h of its installed capacity.
The Nation observed that most of the gas power plants were at their down time. Aside from Ikeja 1 that produced 95 per cent of its installed capacity, none of them generated more than 43 per cent of its installed capacity.
Gas constraints are largely blamed for the low performance of the gas power plant owing to a debt overhang of over N6.2 trillion.
