OpeOluwaani Akintayo
25 October 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, has secured an approval from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, to raise the capacity of its Okpai Power Plant in Delta State from 480megawatts, MW, to 1,000MW.
The company also got an extension licence for Phase 1 of the power pant which is currently generating 480MW into the national grid.
The approval for another 10 years comes two years after NERC said it received commitment from the firm for an extension and to commence second phase of the project. The second phase of the project when completed, would bring the plant’s total output to 1,000MW.
According to a tweet by NERC, the approved licence, alongside terms and conditions, were presented to representatives of the NAOC by the commission’s General Manager, Legal Licensing and Compliance, Mrs Olunfunke Dinneh, at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
“Officials of Okpai Power Plant of Agip collects licence for their phase 2 from GM, Legal Licensing & Compliance, Mrs Olufunke Dinneh,” NERC tweeted alongside a photo from the ceremony.
“Generation license is due for extension after 10 years and Okpai has attained that milestone as it receives extension licence from @NERCNG”, the tweet added.
The Okpai power plant, a combined cycle plant, was commissioned in April 2005, but, licenced by NERC in November 2007. It is a joint venture investment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC; NAOC; and Philips Oil Company Limited.