The Transmission Company of Nigeria has secured more than $1.4bn, equivalent to about N1.87tn, in loans and grants from multilateral development partners this year to expand the national electricity grid, increasing its transmission capacity to over 8,700 megawatts.

The funding, largely mobilised over the past 12 months, has supported the expansion and upgrade of transmission infrastructure, including the commissioning of 89 power transformers across the country.

The TCN Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider, Ajiboye Oluwagbenga, disclosed this on Thursday at a training workshop in Keffi, Nasarawa State.

According to him, the investments have significantly strengthened the transmission network and increased its capacity to transmit substantially more electricity across the country, although the full 8,700MW capacity is yet to be physically tested.

Oluwagbenga said the grid expansion had come at a significant financial cost.

“These things don’t come cheap at all. The investment made so far, accumulated in the last 12 months, that we have secured is in excess of $1.4bn from multilateral and development financing mobilised for TCN expansion.

“When we are talking about the transmission wheeling capacity, we stand at 8,700MW. It has not been physically tested, but it has been simulated. So presently, that is where we are,” he said.

He explained that the company was taking a conservative approach to its assessment, noting that additional transmission facilities had been added over the past six months but were yet to be reflected in the reported capacity figure.

“For the past six months, we have added so much capacity, but we just don’t want to do that now. We are leaving it at 8,700MW. The meaning is this: where we have all the facilities, if the Discos are ready to pick up load, we can conveniently wheel 8,700MW,” Oluwagbenga stated.

However, he said the inability or unwillingness of some electricity distribution companies to take available power was limiting the volume of electricity transmitted to consumers.

According to him, the highest volume of electricity wheeled through the national grid was 5,801.84MW, recorded in 2025.

“In 2025, when things were okay, we were able to wheel 5,801.84MW across the grid. That is the peak we have ever done. It is not because this industry does not have the capacity, but because these distribution companies are claiming that this is business now. If they are not getting their revenue, they are not ready to take the power. So, that is limiting us,” he said.

The TCN director also said the company’s transmission capacity had surpassed 8,500MW, noting that the network could deliver significantly more electricity to distribution companies if the available capacity were fully utilised.