21 May 2015, Abuja — The overall contribution of the National Integrated Power Projects, NIPPs, to Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity is expected to scale up to 4,700 megawatts (MW) with the federal government’s imminent inauguration of three more of its plants on Monday.
The government disclosed on Wednesday that it will commission three more electricity plants under the NIPPs scheme on Monday next week to bring to seven the number of such plants commissioned under President Goodluck Jonathan.
It added in Abuja that the plant’s inauguration will mean that the NIPPs generation plants built and managed by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Plc, NDPHC, on behalf of the three tiers of government could contribute 4,700MW to the national grid.
However, the NIPP plants are scheduled for sale under a privatisation scheme that is yet to be consummated by the government.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali said at the opening session of a two-day validation workshop on power sector policy documents: “We are going to commission on Monday (450MW) Ihovbor, (452MW) Sapele II and (562MW) Calabar; the others (252MW) Gbarain, (378MW) Egbema and (252MW) Omoku have reached advanced stages of completion. Totally, these plants will generate 4,700MW to the grid.”
Igali spoke for the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo and recounted the gains of privatisation.
He noted in this regard that ongoing turnaround maintenance in the generation companies (Gencos) was neglected by government for over 25 years before the takeover in 2013.
He decried the spate of gas pipeline vandalism which he added has starved the optimised plants of gas fuel saying, “We got up to 4,500MW at the beginning of April but today, we are operating at 2,200MW.”
“If we get gas, we can generate 6,000MW and every part opf the country will have about 22 hours light, because we discovered that when we hit 4,500MW, many places were having 18 hours supply,” he further explained.
*Chineme Okafor – Thisday
