The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced that the country's transmission infrastructure can wheel more electricity than is currently being generated, with an installed wheeling capacity of 8,700 megawatts (MW).
TCN Managing Director's Statement
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of TCN, Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, made this disclosure on Monday during the four-day Parliamentary and Stakeholders' Engagement Summit on Power Sector Reforms in Nigeria, held with members of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Power Sector Reform and Expenditure Investigation.
Abdulaziz stated that the national grid has consistently demonstrated the ability to evacuate all available generation, emphasizing that transmission is not currently the binding constraint in the electricity value chain.
"The implication is clear: the national grid can currently transmit significantly more power than has ever been generated and supplied to it," he said. "TCN has consistently wheeled all available generation, demonstrating that the transmission network is ready to support higher levels of electricity delivery."
Generation and Transmission Data
According to data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) February 2026 Operational Factsheet, the country's installed generation capacity stands at 13,625MW. However, the highest power ever generated and delivered to the national grid remains 5,801.84MW, recorded on March 4, 2025. On that same date, TCN achieved a record daily energy delivery of 128,370.75 megawatt-hours (MWh).
The company noted that its transmission wheeling capacity has grown from about 7,000MW to 8,700MW, following expansion projects carried out in recent years.
Expansion Projects and Funding
Abdulaziz explained that the expansion was supported through strategic investments from the federal government and development partners. He disclosed that between January 2024 and November 2025, TCN commissioned 82 power transformers nationwide, adding approximately 8,500MVA of transformation capacity to the grid.
Furthermore, the company has mobilized over $1.4 billion in development financing from multilateral partners, including the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Agence Française de Développement (AFD), to support transmission expansion and modernization.
