Nigeria Can Get More From 5,000MW Through Energy Efficiency — ECN

"Nigeria’s current peak generation of about 5,000 to 6,000 megawatts remained inadequate against the country’s 2030 target of 30,000MW, but argued that improving efficiency could significantly increase the value derived from the electricity currently available." Dr. Abdullahi DG ECN 

Nigeria can significantly improve electricity access and reduce energy costs by making better use of the power already being generated, rather than relying solely on new generation capacity.

Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the ECN, Dr. Mustapha Abdullahi, stated this at a two-day national workshop on energy efficiency and conservation organised by the Commission in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Abdullahi said Nigeria’s current peak generation of about 5,000 to 6,000 megawatts remained inadequate against the country’s 2030 target of 30,000MW, but argued that improving efficiency could significantly increase the value derived from the electricity currently available.

According to him, while new generation capacity remains necessary, it takes time to develop, making efficient utilisation of existing electricity an immediate area of intervention.

“With the 5,000 megawatts we have, we can actually have a value of 20,000 megawatts from it,” he said, attributing the potential gain to measures such as switching off unused appliances and enforcing minimum energy performance standards for electrical appliances.

Abdullahi said the ECN, working with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), had recently launched new Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for air conditioners and was developing standards for refrigerators.

The ECN Boss added that the Commission was also training Nigerians to identify energy-efficient appliances and encouraging consumers to replace inefficient equipment, stressing that the immediate benefit was not merely increased electricity availability but reduced energy costs for households.

He also disclosed that a new Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill before the National Assembly had reached second reading.

According to him, passage of the bill would provide the Commission with the legal framework required to implement energy efficiency and conservation measures nationwide.

The development comes as stakeholders at the workshop called for a fundamental shift in Nigeria’s approach to the power challenge—from an almost exclusive focus on increasing megawatts to treating energy efficiency as an additional source of energy.

The keynote speaker,  Professor Abubakar Sambo, said Nigeria’s energy debate had historically centred on generation deficits, transmission constraints and gas-to-power infrastructure, while insufficient attention had been paid to reducing unnecessary demand.

Professor Sambo argued that aggressive energy efficiency measures could reduce pressure on the constrained national grid and potentially limit the scale of capital expenditure required for additional generation.

Sambo called for the proposed energy efficiency legislation to be strengthened through a regulatory impact assessment, clearer institutional responsibilities for the ECN and other agencies, and a legal framework for Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) to undertake performance-based energy efficiency projects.

He also identified enforcement as a major weakness in the existing framework.

On buildings, he proposed establishing institutional links between federal energy policy and state and local government building permit authorities, including possible hybrid offices to facilitate enforcement of the Building Energy Efficiency Code.

He further recommended that energy-efficiency compliance certification eventually become a requirement for property title registration.

On appliances, Sambo said Nigeria had made progress through MEPS and labelling but still faced challenges with market surveillance, testing capacity and the entry of inefficient appliances through porous borders.

He therefore advocated a transition from voluntary to mandatory energy-efficiency, labelling and stronger enforcement at points of entry.

The keynote speaker also highlighted electricity tariffs and metering as important tools for influencing consumer behaviour.

This is as he argued that consumers on estimated billing were disconnected from the true price signal of their electricity consumption and called for greater deployment of smart metering as part of demand-side management.

He also proposed reviewing the tariff methodology to incorporate incentives for energy efficiency.

Another recommendation was the creation of a National Energy Efficiency Fund (NEAF), potentially financed through a small portion of electricity tariffs or environmental levies, to provide low-interest financing for industrial energy-efficiency retrofits.

He further called for the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to require electricity distribution companies to dedicate between two and five per cent of their annual operational budgets to demand-side management programmes.

The proposal, he said, would encourage distribution companies to move beyond simply selling electricity towards providing broader energy solutions.

Sambo also proposed a phased national roadmap for MEPS implementation, beginning with institutional foundations and standardisation within six months, followed by market surveillance and voluntary compliance over seven to 18 months, and eventually mandatory enforcement and penalties within 19 to 36 months.

He urged stakeholders to compare electricity demand trajectories with the potential energy savings available across the economy, describing energy efficiency as a “virtual power plant” capable of releasing electricity for other consumers without constructing a new generating station.

The JICA Country Representative, Ishigame Keiji, described energy efficiency as a “first fuel”, arguing that the most cost-effective unit of energy was one that did not need to be produced or consumed.

He said Nigeria’s population growth, urbanisation, industrialisation and rising electricity demand made energy efficiency both an economic and environmental imperative.

According to him, improvements in buildings, industries, transportation, cooling equipment, appliances and public facilities could reduce energy costs, improve productivity, strengthen energy security and support sustainable economic development.

Ishigame said Japan’s experience demonstrated the importance of technological innovation, energy management systems, efficiency standards and effective regulation in improving energy productivity while sustaining economic growth.

He said JICA would continue supporting Nigeria through capacity development, knowledge transfer and technical cooperation, expressing hope that the workshop would produce a practical roadmap and actionable recommendations.

Dr Kingsley Tochukwu Ude, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology similarly stressed the need to move beyond policies and research documents towards measurable implementation.

Represented by an official from the Ministry of Science, Technology and innovation, the Minister called for stronger links between research institutions, universities, technology hubs, industries and policymakers so that innovations could be translated into practical solutions for homes, businesses and communities.

The Minister also highlighted emerging Nigerian innovations, including locally produced metering solutions developed by young Nigerians, as well as other energy-generation initiatives being explored by Nigerian innovators.

For the industrial sector, the representative of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment said energy costs could account for about 40 per cent of production costs, making efficiency measures critical to reducing production expenses and improving competitiveness.