An intervention by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is poised to address the legal and operational constraints that are limiting the performance of the 700-megawatt Zungeru Hydropower Project, which currently supplies about 350MW to Nigeria’s national grid.
   
This comes as the federal government seeks to increase electricity supply and improve the performance of power assets under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements.
   
The $1.3 billion project is operated by Penstock Limited under a PPP arrangement, with the ICRC now reviewing the challenges affecting its performance.
   
The commission brought together the Federal Ministry of Power, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), and the concessionaire in Abuja to identify constraints and agree on measures to improve the plant’s output.
   
The meeting was significant for Nigeria’s power market as the plant is currently generating roughly half of its 700MW installed capacity, leaving a potential 350MW capacity gap.       
  
In the meantime, the commission said the stakeholders had identified the legal and operational issues affecting Zungeru and agreed to reconvene to review progress in resolving them.
   
According to the ICRC Director-General, Dr Jobson Ewalefoh, the commission cannot allow PPP power assets to operate below their potential as the country seeks to address electricity supply constraints.
   
He explained that the commission is responsible for ensuring that both the government and private-sector parties comply with their obligations under the PPP agreements, to ensure sustainability, return on investment, service delivery, and value for money.
   
However, the commission said the Zungeru review would not be an isolated exercise, disclosing plans to conduct similar compliance reviews in other PPP-operated power assets, including Kainji, Jebba, Shiroro, Dadinkowa and Kashimbila.
   
ICRC DG said the reviews were intended to determine whether existing PPP arrangements were delivering the efficiency expected from private-sector participation in the management of government assets.