NISO Calls for Stronger Coordination to Optimise Nigeria’s Hydropower Generation
Oru Leonard
The Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) has called for stronger collaboration among power sector stakeholders to improve the planning, reliability and utilisation of Nigeria’s hydropower resources for enhanced electricity supply.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NISO made the call at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Hydro Generation Planning Meeting held at the Jebba Hydro Power Station, Niger State.
The five-day meeting, which ran from August 17 to 21, brought together representatives of the Federal Ministry of Power, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), hydropower generating companies, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Distribution Companies, water resources and dam management authorities, development partners and industry experts.
The NISO chief executive described hydropower as a strategic component of Nigeria’s electricity supply industry, noting that its importance goes beyond the volume of energy supplied to the national grid.
According to him, hydropower provides critical operational capabilities, including frequency regulation, reserve provision, voltage support and system restoration, which are increasingly important as the power system faces generation variability, changing demand patterns and transmission constraints.
He stressed that frequency regulation had become a measurable and enforceable obligation, disclosing that NISO had intensified compliance enforcement on Free Governor Control across the generation fleet.
He said the enforcement included field inspections, conditional derogations with fixed expiry dates and a penalty framework tied to Monthly Penalizable Capacity, implemented in line with NERC regulatory directives.
The NISO boss explained that the objective was not to single out individual operators but to ensure that the flexibility claimed by generating stations translated into demonstrated and reliable operational capability.
He said hydro generation planning should therefore go beyond determining the megawatts available at a particular period to ensuring the optimal and sustainable utilisation of hydropower resources while maintaining grid security.
He identified reservoir levels and inflows, water releases, seasonal hydrological conditions, dam management requirements, generating-unit availability, planned and forced outages, turbine and generator constraints, transmission capacity and system demand patterns as critical factors in hydro generation planning.
He called for a coordinated and transparent planning process capable of producing technically realistic and operationally implementable generation plans aligned with national grid requirements.
On the role of NISO, he said the Electricity Act 2023 provides for system operation functions including generation scheduling, commitment and dispatch, transmission scheduling, generation-outage coordination, congestion management, ancillary services and long-term system planning.
He added that NISO was committed to coordinating the power system in a manner that promotes security, reliability, efficiency, transparency and optimal utilisation of available generation resources.
The NISO chief executive, however, emphasised that effective system operation could not be achieved by the System Operator alone, stressing the need for close coordination among generating companies, TCN, distribution companies, water-resource authorities, regulators and other market participants.
He urged stakeholders to improve the quality and timeliness of hydrological forecasts, water-availability information, generation declarations, maintenance and outage schedules, unit capability information, reservoir data, transmission outage information and dispatch schedules.
He said the quality of such information directly affects the quality of generation scheduling and, ultimately, the security of the national grid.
The NISO chief executive also highlighted the growing importance of hydropower as Nigeria’s energy mix evolves, particularly with increasing interest in renewable energy, embedded generation and distributed energy resources.
He noted that as variable renewable generation increases, greater flexibility would be required from the System Operator, adding that technically capable and compliant hydro stations could play a critical role in responding rapidly to changes in generation and demand.
He therefore called for the preservation, rehabilitation, modernisation and optimisation of existing hydropower assets, alongside the development of viable new hydro resources.
On asset performance, he said installed capacity alone was not enough to determine the contribution of a hydro station, stressing that available capacity and operational readiness remained critical.
He called for better coordination of planned maintenance with system requirements and the reduction of forced outages through effective preventive and predictive maintenance.
He also advocated a structured, time-bound approach to addressing compliance gaps, noting that the objective should be to return facilities to full compliance rather than relying solely on punitive measures.
The NISO chief executive further disclosed that the organisation was advancing its modern control centre and operational intelligence systems programme to enhance operational visibility and strengthen the use of Energy Management Systems, SCADA, Internet of Things (IoT), state estimation and contingency analysis across the generation fleet.
He said the initiative would support a shift from planning based predominantly on historical patterns to predictive, scenario-based and risk-informed generation planning.
He urged participants at the meeting to interrogate existing assumptions, examine historical performance honestly and identify the practical constraints limiting hydro generation.
According to him, the meeting should produce clear responsibilities, measurable actions and timelines that can be monitored beyond the event.
Expected outcomes of the meeting, he said, included a projected hydro generation profile, assessment of water-resource availability, maintenance and outage schedules, generating-unit availability and governor-response compliance, coordination of hydro with thermal and renewable generation, reserve and ancillary-service requirements, transmission constraints and strategies for improving hydro availability and reliability.
He stressed that the success of the meeting should not be measured by the quality of presentations delivered but by the decisions taken and their impact on generation availability, grid security and electricity supply to Nigerians.
The NISO chief executive reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to working with stakeholders to ensure that Nigeria’s hydropower resources are effectively integrated into the national generation mix and optimally utilised for national development.
He urged participants to use the meeting to exchange knowledge, challenge existing practices and develop practical solutions capable of making Nigeria’s electricity system more reliable, resilient, flexible and efficient.
The meeting was held from August 17 to 21, 2026, at the Jebba Hydro Power Station in Niger State.
