Nigeria's grid-connected power plants recorded an average hourly generation of 4,102MWh/h in February, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has disclosed.

NERC in its latest operational performance factsheet released on Thursday, stated that although the country has a total installed generation capacity of 13,625MW, only 4,384MW was available for dispatch on average, during the period.

It stated that it represents a Plant Availability Factor (PAF) of 32 per cent during the month.

The commission also stated that the available capacity was largely utilised as the plants recorded a 93 per cent average load factor, indicating that most of the available generation capacity was dispatched to the national grid.

"The grid-connected plants recorded a Plant Availability Factor of 32 per cent. At any point during the month, an average of 4,384MW was available for dispatch onto the grid," the factsheet stated.

The report further noted that the average hourly generation of 4,102MWh/h represents about 93 per cent utilisation of the available capacity, reflecting strong dispatch performance relative to the power plants that were operational during the period.

NERC stated that the top ten generating plants accounted for 82 per cent of the total electricity generated in February.

The report listed Kainji, Jebba, Egbin, Delta, Zungeru and Ihovbor power plants, as top performers with the delivery of significant portions of the country's electricity supply during the month.

According to the commission, the Kainji hydroelectric power plant recorded one of the strongest performances with an availability factor of 76 per cent, generating an average of 574MWh/h with a 99 per cent load factor.

It added that Jebba power plant achieved 75 per cent availability and delivered 425MWh/h on average, whilst Egbin power station, Nigeria's largest thermal plant, generated 465MWh/h with a 95 per cent load factor.

According to the factsheet, Delta Power Plant delivered 364MWh/h average generation with 96 per cent load factor during the period; Zungeru Hydropower Plant; 286MWh/h at 95 per cent load factor; Shiroro Power Plant with 269MWh/h at 92 per cent load factor; Okpai Power Plant with 222MWh/h at 89 per cent load factor; and Ihovbor Power Plant with 404MWh/h with 91 per cent load factor.

It also listed several other grid-connected power stations with lower availability levels during the month.

The factsheet noted that Olorunsogo II, with an installed capacity of 750MW, had an average available capacity of 105MW, during the period.

This, according to the report, translates to 14 per cent availability, whilst Afam I recorded 12 per cent availability.

It stated that some plants such as Alaoji power station recorded zero generation during the period, indicating complete downtime.

According to NERC, other plants including Omotosho, Geregu, Odukpani and Sapele recorded varying levels of availability and generation output.

On the grid performance during the period, NERC stated that the installed Generation Capacity stood at 13,625mw; average available capacity was 4,384mw; plant availability factor at 32 per cent; average hourly generation was 4,102MWh/h; and average load factor was 93 per cent.