Federal government, Wednesday, disclosed that the entire country would have been in total darkness by now if it had not invested in National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP).
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Chiedu Ugbo, made the disclosure Wednesday in Calabar while making a keynote remarks at a two-day workshop for Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria (PCAN) as part of capacity building process.
The NDPHC Limited is the implementing agency of the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) which involves power generating plants, most of which predominantly situated in Niger Delta States but owned and funded by the federal government.
According to Mr Ugbo, “We have delivered over 4,000 MW capacity in terms of electricity generation. We have delivered over 9,200 MVA in terms of transmission. As at today the country should be able to make available for distribution by Distribution Companies about 7,000MW.
“In terms of transmission capacity from NDPHC alone, we have substations that can step down over 7,000 MW electricity for Distribution Companies. We have transmission lines running from Calabar to Ikot Ekpene and joining Ikot Ekpene-Jos, Enugu-Makurdi; also we have transmission substations.
“If the government did not invest in NIPP, the country would probably be in complete darkness as at today. I’m telling you the truth. This is because what might be available, will not be able to sustain the grid and grid will not be able to make much available to distribution companies to serve Nigeria.
OPTIMUM TIMES recalled that NIPP was conceived in 2004 and developed to address the issues of insufficient electric power generation and excessive gas flaring from oil exploration in the Niger Delta region.
The ten thermal plants that were designed include: Ihovbor Power Station Benin, Edo State; Calabar Power Station, Cross River State; Egbema Power Station, Imo State; Gbarain Power Station, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.Others are Sapele Power Station, Delta State; Omoku Power Station, Rivers State; Alaoji Power Station, Abia State, combined cycle plant; Omotosho II Power Station, Ondo State; Olorunsogo II Power Station, Ogun State, combined cycle plant; Geregu II Power Station, Kogi State.
The NDPHC Managing Director further said that the company had also diversified into renewable energy, revealing that apart from the 20,000 home units that already installed, “there are plans to add another 100,000 units across the country.”
He said: “It should be noted that the company has been operating its existing plants, completing those still under construction and intervening in transmission and distribution through its internally generated revenue.
“NDPHC, being primarily a generation company, also intervenes very seriously in both transmission and distribution segments of the power sector. In addition, we also a socially responsible company through our corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects.
However, Mr. Ugbo said NDPHC is undergoing challenges in terms of transmission, gas, vandalisation, liquidity and tariffs constraints.
According to him, “In spite of this, the Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) is owing NDPHC over ₦100 billion. Again, our tariff is the cheapest among thermal companies even though we all buy gas at the same price in the market.”
He appealed to every Nigerian and every community where NDPHC installations are sited to regard those projects as theirs, protect them from theft and vandalism.
“Within the last one year we have witnessed some setbacks through such actions when gas pipelines were damaged and also recently when high tension towers were pulled down and parts carted away in River State”, he cited.
In a presentation on NDPHC: Origin and role in Nigerian power Sector”, the NDPHC General Manager, Renewal Energy, Engr. Valerie Agberagba, cited that the NIPP generating capacity has hit 4,047.4 MW while the transmission capacity is 9,220 MVA. She explained that this strengthens the gride, making it more stable and reliable to take additional 7,376MW.
In terms of distribution, she said the NDPHC has made distribution upgrade of about 5,214MVA and is effecting distribution of about 4,171 MW thereby improving quality of power to consume.
On his part, while presenting a paper on “Power generation: All you need to know, Prof. Stephen Ogaji, puts the available generation capacity at about 6,000 MW, transmission at less than 6,000 MW while distribution is about 5,000 MW.
Prof. Ogaji further revealed that the total installed Thermal capacity in the country is more than 13,000 MW while the total gas requirements for the existing power stations in the country is approximately 2,734 mmscfd.
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