Oscarline Onwuemenyi
21 February 2015, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday issued two on-grid electricity generation licences to KVK Power Nigeria PVT Limited and Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria Plc.(ALSCON) to generate electricity from solar and gas-flared facilities respectively.
A statement by the regulatory agency obtained by our correspondent in Abuja indicated that the two companies will generate a combined 410 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
According to the statement, “KVK Power on-grid power is to be located in Yabo, Sokoto State having met the requirements for the grant of 50 MWs on-grid generation with no objection received from the general public to their application, the licence has thereby been issued.
“ALSCON’s application for an on-grid electricity generation in respect of a 360MWs gas-fired plant at Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, and a permit in respect of a 180MW Captive Power Generation in the same location was approved and issued after the review of an objection to the license issuance by BFI Group, found not to be affecting the grant of the license,” it added.
Chairman of the Commission, Dr Sam Amadi congratulated the two licencees for successfully going through the process leading up to the licence issuance; a process he described as necessary, saying the current policy is to ensure that whoever is licenced is able to carry the construction to completion.
Amadi, who assured the licensees of NERC’s support, said that the Commission would be available to assist the licencees when the need for power purchase agreement arises.
Chairman, KVK Nigeria, Ambassador Abubakar Cika, who was elated by the licence received, said that it was unfortunate that there had been lots of negative comments from different quarters about the sector; with people failing to realize that Rome was not built in one day.
He said that KVK would work in collaboration with its Indian partners to ensure the objectives of providing sustainable power is achieved.
Also speaking at the ceremony, the Managing Director of ALSCON, Dr Oleg Suistunov, said that it was difficult to generate power without a licence which makes the licence an important certificate to enable them proceed to the next stage on power generation.