In a bid to address the ongoing power supply challenges faced by Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa states, the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has announced a groundbreaking partnership worth $100 million to develop a 100MW Safe Grid.
This move will offer customers 24-hour electricity, with a special focus on industrial sectors, commercial centers, and essential government infrastructure, reducing reliance on Nigeria’s faltering national grid.
KEDCO’s decision comes on the back of consistent power supply disruptions caused by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which has failed to meet its full allocation to KEDCO, supplying less than half of what the distribution company requires.
This shortfall has significantly affected KEDCO’s operations, impacting its customers, businesses, and institutional clients, and has begun to strain its financial stability.
The company currently collects between N9 billion and N12 billion monthly from consumers, but the frequent collapse of the national grid has led to revenue losses and raised concerns about the potential departure of key customers.
In response, KEDCO has launched an initiative that aims to create a more secure and sustainable electricity supply through embedded generation within its own network.
As part of the Safe Grid project, the company is set to build a 20MW power plant with Utilita under an emergency project costing $20 million, expected to begin operations by the end of this year. This plant will form the first phase of the Safe Grid’s development, with plans to bring additional power sources online.
KEDCO will also tap into the 10MW Haske Solar Power Plant and 16MW from the Tiga and Challawa Hydroelectric plants to ensure an initial 46MW supply to the grid.
Further expansion includes negotiations with the Ministry of Power to take over and complete the 10MW Katsina Wind Farm project, along with the construction of additional gas and solar power plants that will add 54MW to the grid.
Experts have praised KEDCO for this ambitious initiative, highlighting the urgency of finding reliable alternatives to the frequently collapsing national grid. In 2024 alone, the national grid collapsed 11 times, severely disrupting power access for millions of Nigerians.
The Safe Grid project is expected to bolster KEDCO’s service delivery, enhance power security, and improve its financial outlook, potentially setting a new precedent for other distribution companies grappling with similar issues in Nigeria’s power sector.