Dr Steven Andzenge, the Commissioner in charge of Legal, Licensing and Enforcement at the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), said the organisation issued 126 licences since it was established.
Andzenge said this in recently at the formal presentation of the licence to Ibom Power Limited to generate 685 megawatts of electricity in Akwa Ibom.
The licence was received on behalf of the Akwa-Ibom Government-owned firm by Governor Udom Emmanuel.
Adzenge listed categories of the licences to include On-Grid 72; Off-Grid 25; Embedded 6; Distribution 14; Trading 1; Transmission 1 and System Operators 1.
He said that On-Grid had capacity of 22,216mw; Off-Grid 428.2mw; embedded 298mw; NIPP 5,032mw; PHCN 7,283.2mw and legacy IPPs, 780mw.
The commissioner said the total capacity of on-grid was 35,314mw; Off-grid 428,12mw and embedded 298mw.
Other licences issued include those for Diverse Energy Mix 4; Hydro 1968mw; Coal 6 with 1,815mw; Wind 2 with 110mw and Solar 189mw.
Adzenge said that NERC had also issued licences for undertakings in all the six geo-political zones of the country.
Earlier, Emmanuel expressed appreciation to the management of NERC for its commitment to ensure that Ibom Power got the licence.
He said Ibom plant received approval for an on-grid generation licence on May, 2008 to enable it to generate 190mw gas-fired IPP in Ikot Abasi in Akwa-Ibom.
He, however, said in December 2014, the company submitted an application to amend its licence to increase its generation capacity from 190mw to 685mw.
Dr Sam Amadi, Chairman of NERC, while issuing the licence to Governor Udom, expressed gratitude to the state for its commitment to ensure that the company got the licence.
Amadi said that the company complied with all the rules and guidelines to the letter until the plant was completed.
He said that Ibom Power was currently generating 190mw and would soon increase to 685mw, adding that NERC believed that the additional capacity would be commissioned soon.
Amadi said that the increase in generation capacity in Nigeria would translate to improvement in the economic landscape of the country.
He called on the state to continue to show more commitment to the project, adding that NERC would give all the support needed to ensure the success of the plant.
The NERC chairman urged other states to emulate Akwa-Ibom and build their own power plants.
He said that if this was done, the challenges witnessed in the sector would be a thing of the past.
– NAN
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