Electricity: Delivery Of New Power Stations, Transformers To Boost Power By 1600MW

According to the Federal Government, recent deliveries of the facilities required to raise Nigeria’s electricity output will boost power by 1,600 megawatts.

This set of power projects comes under the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) and has been delivered and deployed.

Under the PPI, the Federal Government is partnering with the German firm, Siemens, to deploy power transformers, mobile stations and other facilities, with the aim of growing Nigeria’s grid power generation to 25,000MW. 

Providing updates on the deal in Abuja, the Federal Government of Nigeria Power Company, a Special Purpose Vehicle established to secure financing, coordinate stakeholders and enter contractual arrangements to deliver the PPI projects, said the first phase of the PPI had reached an advanced stage.

The company said it had received delivery of about 80 per cent of the equipment for the pilot projects, which were being deployed to critical sites across the country to improve power transmission capacity. 

It outlined some of the sites to include Apo, Ajah, Okene, Nike Lake, Kwanar Dangora, Maryland, Omouaran, Ojo, Amukpe, Ihovbor, Potiskum, Birnin Kebbi, among others. 

The Managing Director, FGN Power Company, Kenny Anuwe, explained that the first phase of the PPI would add 2,000MW of power to the national grid. 

By deploying 80 per cent of the facilities required to generate this quantum of electricity,, therefore, implies that the government has provided the equipment needed to grow power generation by about 1,600MW.

“The successful implementation of projects under Phase 1 will culminate in the delivery of an additional 2,000MW, two million new connections to the national grid, training of over 5,000 engineers to operate the system network, and improved electricity access to millions of Nigerians,” Anuwe stated.

He insisted that the Nigeria-Siemens PPI project for Phase One was underway and had recorded notable successes, adding that the pilot project was a quick-win intervention strategy. 

The FGN Power boss said the pilot phase would unlock the immediate constraints in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry through the deployment of 10 power transformers and 10 mobile substations across the country.

“The Nigeria-Siemens PPI initiative will be delivered in three phases; with phase one focusing on ‘quick win’ measures to increase end-to-end operational capacity to 7,000MW from the current capacity of about 5,000MW.

“Phase two targets expanding the capacity of the transmission and distribution systems to enable evacuation of up to 11,000 MW of electricity to consumers, while phase three targets expanding the power grid to 25,000MW capacity, through further expansion of generation, transmission, and distribution systems,” Anuwe stated.

He also said the Federal Government, Siemens A.G and Siemens Energy had remained unswerving to their commitments to the project, which was intended to resolve capacity deficits in metering infrastructure, transmission and distribution end-to-end system constraints, power systems and network development studies, as well as securing financing for the entire project implementation. 

The company said PPI was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which occasioned a backlog in Siemens’ production and limited the availability of manufacturing slots.

It, however, explained that a visit by the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, the management of FGN Power Company and other key officials to Germany in April 2022, where they met with the leadership of Siemens Energy, helped in mitigating the manufacturing challenges and fast-tracked the delivery and execution of the project.

“The installation of the 60MVA Siemens power transformer at Apo Transmission Substation, Abuja was widely publicised, and it is enough evidence that the project is going and will continue to deliver upgraded and expanded electricity supply for the socioeconomic benefit of Nigerians,” Anuwe stated.