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Tag: NDPHC

  • ‘Non- completion of Alaoji, others won’t stall privatisation’

    The delay in the completion of Alaoji,Omoku and Gbarain power plants will not affect the sale of the 10 power assets under the NIPP, the  Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) that superintends the National Integrated Power Plants (NIPPs), has said.

    The company has completed the construction of Omotoso, Egbema, Ogwode, Olorunsogo, Benin and Calabar, while Alaoji, Omoku, and Gbarain power plants are yet to be completed.

    The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has said the ongoing privatisation of the NIPP assets is being delayed by the problem of gas that had stalled the signing of the gas purchase agreements that would make the transactions bankable.

    NDPHC’s spokesman, Yakubu Lawal, told The Nation, that shortage of gas is the only problem delaying the privatisation of the plants. He said that non-completion of the three plants by the contractors has no basis with the sale of the 10 plants from which the government is targeting 5,000 megawatts (MW) to achieve its aspiration to generate 10,000MW.

    Lawal said that due diligence has been conducted by the companies that bought the plants, adding that the transactions was done in a transparent manner. He said: “There was a shares agreement between the companies and the government before transactions on the plants started. The buyers have carried out due diligence and know the state of the plants. It is not compulsory that the plants must be completed before the plants are sold.”

    He said the NDPHC has done a lot to make the plants look better, strong and effective, adding that the plants would improve power supply when they are privatised.

    The BPE’s Director General, Benjamen Dikki, said the country has a capacity for 11,000 megawatts, adding that power supply would improve when the infrastructure problems in the sector are solved.  Dikki said the combination of adequate gas supply to thermal and hydro-power plants would help in improving electricity supply.

  • Firms seal facility deal

    The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), which oversees the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), has handed over its new transmission plant to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

    The plant, the largest in the country, is located in Oke-Aro community, Ogun State. It was completed last year, having met provisions of the contract, the NDPHC’s spokesman, Yakubu Lawal, has said.

    He said with the plant in operation, power supply to Nigerians would improve substantially.

    Speaking during the handover, the Deputy General Manager, Civil Field Operations, NDPHC/NIPP, Claudius Ogunrinde, said the project had been completed and inaugurated, and the company had been running it under the provisions of the contract.

    “Today marks the proper and complete handover of the facility to the TCN.

    “We are here to examine the effectiveness of what we have done about a year ago and some of the factors listed to be improved upon, and we have seen that most of them have been done and the job is excellently executed to specified standard,” Ogunrinde said.

    He said the TCN was allowed to take partial control of the facility last year with a clause to acquaint them with the technology and also ensure that the plant starts serving Nigerians early enough.

    “The clause was that in case any of the equipment develops problem, they (TCN) have a warranty for one year, so the contractor that did the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) job, should be around to help solve the problem and guide the staff on how to run the station without problems. So the warranty is over today and it becomes the baby of TCN completely,” he added.

    The transmission plant is to step down power from 330kva to 132kva and then to 33kva.The 33kva is where the DISCOS and consumers get supply from. The facility has four feeders radiating on 33kva and two of them have been in service for about six months while another two has been added, waiting to be inaugurated shortly.

    TCN General Manager, Ijora Region, Mr. Oyeleke Adeoye, noted that the transmission plant would boost power supply to Lagos and Ogun states significantly and ease the load on Ikeja West transmission station at Ayobo, Lagos.

    He said: “The quality of the job done on the station is perfect. It’s one of the best stations we are inheriting, and I hope it will serve us properly in Lagos. The station will relieve Lagos region, because the bulk of power we consume in Lagos is around Ikeja Industrial area, and we all share the power from Ikeja West. Now that we have this, Ikeja area will satisfied appropriately, which means there will be relief in other parts of Lagos.”

  •  ‘Ekiti will resist rigging’

     ‘Ekiti will resist rigging’

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi spoke with reporters in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, on the preparations for the June 21 governorship election, Vice President Namadi Sambo’s description of Ekiti as a war front, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) threat to ‘capture’ the Southwest and other issues. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.

    Vice President Namadi Sambo has said that Ekiti State will  become a war front during the governorship election? What is your view?
    Quite frankly, my immediate reaction when I saw the statement from the Vice President was disbelief, until I eventually read it in about five newspapers and saw that the language was consistent and that the reports are similar in all the papers. The Vice President is someone I relate with very well. He and I are on the board of the NDPHC (Niger Delta Power Holding Company) and the Nigeria Integrated Power Project (NIPP). He chairs the company and I represent the Southwest in the company. And through that, we meet fairly regularly. The Vice President has every right to push for his party in any election. That is his legitimate right. But, to have said what the media reported was quite unfortunate because we are not at war in Ekiti. We have enjoyed three and a half years of peace and we are one of the most peaceful states in this country today. So, for someone, who occupies one of the highest offices in the land as our Vice President to reduce the importance of his office and promote insecurity, either directly or by subterfuge, is quite unbecoming of the person who occupies the number two position in our country. There is a part of me that still wants to treat it with scepticism and I still would like to take it up with the Vice President whenever I get the opportunity. I hope he would deny the report. But, I do think the underlying implication of the purported statement should worry any decent Nigerian who is interested in credible elections, especially in the light of what recently happened at Ilaje/Ese Odo and the role played by a minister of government, which has now been confirmed by the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Ondo State. In any decent polity, the minister would have been asked to leave by now. If you do anything that flies flagrantly in the face of the law, then, the maximum weight of the law ought to be applied by INEC. The law is very clear on these matters and even the military is empowered to disobey manifestly unlawful orders. What happened in Ilaje/Ese Odo appears to many people as a precursor of the grand plan to steal elections in Ekiti and Osun States. And the INEC ought to be sending a very strong signal that the institution would not take kindly to unlawful interference in the electoral process.
    I can tell you that there is a lot of intelligence available to me about people sewing fake soldiers and policemen uniforms in preparation for Ekiti election and I hope INEC would be reassuring not just Ekiti people but Nigerians because the Ekiti election is even far more important than the 2015 election because if confidence is lost in INEC’s preparation and eventual implementation of the Ekiti election, that will rub off terribly on the 2015 election. I mean the INEC is already under watch, given what happened in Anambra. To then see Ekiti election going in the wrong direction would totally put paid to any hope on the part of Nigerians that anything good can come out of the 2015 elections and I don’t think President Jonathan needs that. I think he has conveyed an image of himself as a decent politician, who is not going to manipulate or resort to extra-legal or illegal ways in election management in Nigeria. So, I think the INEC, together with Inter Agency Committee on Election Security, would need to give Nigerians a lot of reassurance following the Vice President’s careless statement. But perhaps, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. I think it is very unfortunate. I think it is unbecoming of his office. And I think the Vice President really ought to withdraw the statement and reassure Nigerians that the agenda for Ekiti election is not going to be determined in Aso Rock but by Ekiti people because it is a referendum on the performance of the government in Ekiti; it is not a national election. It should not be expanded to a national election. But, let me also say that whatever evil machinations are in place from Abuja, Ekiti people are fully ready.
    But, the Vic President made that statement at a time the PDP is also saying that it will ‘capture’ the Southwest. Are you not nursing any fear for this election?
    This is Ekiti and people who are familiar with the history here would know that this is not a very good place to rig election. You can afford to manipulate elections in Anambra because Anambra has a lot of rich people who are even richer than the governor and do not care too much about who governs the state. In Ekiti, you will discover that everybody is interested in what happens here because we have 2.5million potential governors in this state. Every single indigene believes he has what it takes; that he understands government and that he knows how to govern. So, you can’t say such a person should not have an opinion on who governs. And every time election was manipulated in Ekiti, the result has not been palatable. Whether you refer to 1964/65 wetie crisis, which eventually culminated in the 1966 coup, Ekiti was even a stronger zone of resistance than Ikenne where Chief Awolowo hailed from and of course, when you talk of the 1983 election rigging in Ondo State, we all can remember what happened here. And of course, my own recent experience has also demonstrated that our people are far too sensitive to allow external interference in their affairs. People will make all sorts of claims; that they would do this, they would do that; but, the truth of the matter is that, even the PDP admits that this governor has done well, but it is about gaining an in-road to the Southwest by hook or crook. Unfortunately for them, the PDP had been in government here for seven and a half years and Ekiti people cannot forget in a hurry what they went through in those years. It was murder, mayhem and crises for the bulk of the period. And don’t forget that, for those seven and a half years, there were six governors. So, it was instability galore. That is what would have to be placed side-by-side what happened in our time in office.
    Federal might is always going to be a factor in any election, but I can assure you that the peoples’ might is bigger than federal might. So, we have nothing to fear. We are ready for the worse. But, light will overcome darkness. The election will be a referendum on the performance of our administration and those competitors in Ekiti.
    What do you mean by the election being a referendum on your performance?
    First, what do I mean by that statement? An election is necessarily a referendum of what an incumbent has done or failed to do in the judgment of the electorate. Somebody running for the first time can only make promises and hope that the people will believe his promises. As an incumbent, I am running on the record of the public goods that I’ve delivered in every community and constituency. I have been on the campaign trail for over three weeks now and in every place I get to, the people are the ones who reel out what we have done in their communities. It is a much taller order for me in the sense that I must present tangible, palpable, verifiable evidence of what I have done. That is what I have to sell. And in addition to that, with the record that you know that I have, I now want to do one, two, three and four when I come back. So, it is a referendum on my performance. It may not be a referendum of the performance of my competitors. But, even in the case of one of my competitors, the election is a referendum on who he was when he was in office in the state and what he did. Even, if he chooses not to talk about that, others would talk about his record in office. The record will be set straight.
    Why do you think that you deserves a second term?
    I ran in 2007 on a  platform popularly known as the ‘Roadmap to Ekiti Recovery – My Eight-Point Agenda. At the time, I was very specific about what I was going to do in office as far back as 2006. When you talk about social security – if you read my inaugural speech you will find social security benefit to the elderly there. If you read my inaugural speech, you will see laptop per child there. There is nothing that we have done in this state that we have not picked up from the eight-point agenda. And everyone who is objective can attest to the fulfilment of what we promised Ekiti State people. And in the various communities that we are going to meet people, they speak to that. So, I think the answer to your question is yes. My performance has earned me a reason to believe that I would be re-elected. A dimension to this, today, the result of  one of the polls that we conducted at the various communities came to me. One woman they spoke to basically just said: “We like Fayemi. He has done very well. He has fulfilled all his promises. He has not done anything that we don’t like, but the issue is that, since he has already done everything he promised, he should allow another person come in”.  I found that very interesting. But, the thing is that we have not actually done everything. There are areas where I would score myself 70 per cent or even 60 per cent. There are still some things to be done.
    Seriously speaking, I think we have done reasonably well. Don’t forget that this state is number 35 on the revenue ladder of the country. People often forget that. And this is a state that gets N3billion a month against N23billion in Bayelsa with a smaller population. So, I think it is important to put this in proper perspective. We run a social democratic agenda and it is a progressive government. You will see that in many of the policies that we put in place. We concentrate on how to assist the weak and the vulnerable in our State.  Additionally, we have run a reasonably clean government. So, I think we have done enough to earn a second term. But, we are also not unaware that performance itself is not the only factor in an election. But, it is the most critical success factor for an incumbent.
    There are some things you said about the disparity in the money you get from the Federation Account. Are you comfortable with the federal system being practised in Nigeria?
    We don’t operate a federal system in Nigeria. At best, we operate a distorted, pseudo-federal system, which does not operate coordinate powers among the federating units, but a hierarchical, subordinate powers inherited from our military past. If we operate a federal system, then, you will not have things like UBEC and TETFUND,  which give people the impression that states are beholden to the Federal Government, whereas it is the funds jointly owned in the Federation Account that is being shared. If we run a proper federal structure, you will not have us here spending our meagre resources in sustaining the police while we have no authority over its activities in the state, unless our views coincide with or reinforce the instructions from Abuja. It’s simply a distortion of the federal system.
    As for the disparities in earnings between Bayelsa, or Rivers and Ekiti, I do not have any problem with it.  I’m an advocate of fiscal federalism. So, I do not necessarily have a problem with Rivers State, for instance, earning what comes from its soil. However, in order for us not to undermine the nation, for any federal system to work well, we often need equilibrating mechanisms so that one side is not overwhelmingly rich and other parts of the federation so despicably poor. We have to find a mechanism to balance this and, if you look at the Australian and Canadian constitutions – even in the American constitution, you have these mechanisms there. We have them in ours as well, but they are exercised in breach rather than in consistency with the law. So, I hope those who are working on this at the National Conference will be able to come up with a federalism that is more cooperative than combative because states are being forced into a combative model.
    One of your programmes that the opposition has not criticised is the digitalisation of your income. Could you to shed light on it?
    You are talking about the Integrated Payroll Biometric System. I don’t know if the opposition has not criticised it. When we started it, they called us all manners of names – that the agenda was to get rid of the civil servants.
    But, eventually, you are right, they couldn’t criticise it because the civil servants and the teachers became champions of the electronic payment system and it has saved us from a lot of money spent on ghost workers. We are now even trying to use the same system for our ‘Citizen Identity Management System’ and our social security payment, which is still manual payment and there is still a level of inefficiency and waste  that we have detected in the social security payment. But, clearly, biometrics is the way to go. If you want to run an efficient government, technology has to play a major role. And that is how we have been able to reduce fraud in the system. We now save an average of N200 million.
    The scholar and princess of Ado-Ekiti, Professor Modupe Adelabu, is likely to be your running mate. Why are you retaining the deputy governor as your running mate?
    You know what they say – if it is not broken, why fix it? The deputy governor has done very well. She did exceedingly well managing the state Universal Basic Education Board. My party has a position that the deputy must come from Ado – Ekiti and I cannot go against the position of the party on that. My late deputy was also from Ado– Ekiti as you know. So, we just replaced her with another Ado – Ekiti person who happens to be a direct descendant of the monarch here. But, that is not what qualifies her for the job. She is, more importantly, a professor and expert in educational administration.

  • NCP to open bids for 10 power plants Friday

    NCP to open bids for 10 power plants Friday

    The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and the governing board of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) have approved the opening of the financial bids of the 42 pre-qualified bidders for the 80 per cent equity in the 10 National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs).

    The joint meeting in Abuja that was chaired by Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo that gave the nod, also directed that bids be opened on Friday this week, in keeping with the published timeline for the transaction.

    According to a statement by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the 42 bidders emerged out of the 66 bidding consortia, adding that they have been prequalified because they met the criteria set in the requests for proposal (RFP) and passed the due diligence verification conducted on technically qualified bidders.

    Vice President Sambo commended the Joint Technical Transaction Committee (JTTC) chaired by Governor of Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswan, noting that the transaction, “was a highly transparent process and government had assured investors participating in the NIPP transaction that the same level of transparency will be replicated.” The JTTC is made up of the Technical Committee of NCP and Technical Committee of NDPHC.

    The NIPP privatisation is a joint transaction between the NCP and the Governing Board of NDPHC. The 10 plants are jointly owned by the three tiers of government; local, state and Federal Governments with the Federal Government contributing 47 per cent equity stake and the local and state governments with the remaining 53 per cent equity.

    The Vice President further said the privatisation of the 10 NIPPs marks the first time the private sector, National Assembly, federal, state and local governments are joining forces to ensure an all inclusive transaction process, following a highly successful investors’ fora spanning five countries

    He said all the three tiers of government and the private sector in Nigeria were collaborating in the privatisation process of the power plants which is being jointly offered for sale by the BPE and NDPHC to ensure that the same level of transparency acclaimed the world over in the PHCN transaction was replicated in the NIPP transaction process.

    According to him, if Nigeria was going to be among the 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020, the right steps must be taken, adding that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan is committed to ensuring that the right steps are taken in implementing the Transformation Agenda.

  • Power plants: Bid winners to emerge this month

    The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) will this month announce winners of the bids for the power plants built under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).

    The 10 medium power plants, which were built to add at least 5,000 megawatts (Mw) to the national grid, are Alaoji Power Station in Abia State; Calabar Power Station, Cross River State; Egbema Power Station, Imo State; Geregu Power Station in Kogi State; Ihovbor Power Station in Edo State; and Olorunsogo Power Station, Ogun State.

    Others are Omoku Power Station in Rivers State; Omotosho in Ondo State; Gbarian Power Station, Bayelsa State; and Ogorode Power Station, Delta State.

    Stakeholders have urged the Federal Government to evolve a comprehensive gas plan to improve power supply. The President Liquifield Petroleum Gas Association of Nigeria Mr Dayo Adesina said the government’s decision to build more gas pipelines, pressure stations, central processing facilities (CPFs) and stripping plants, among other infrastructure, would help in increasing power generation.

    Adesina said shortage of gas had weakened the ability of the power firms, to improve generation and distribution since taking over the assets of the defunct PHCN late last year.

    The 15 power generation companies (GENCOs) and distribution companies (DISCOs), he said, had battled gas shortage, advising the government not to allow the independent power plants to suffer similar problems when they are privatised in June, last year.

    He said a sustained investment was needed to drive the sector, adding that certain number of megawatts must be added to the grid yearly to achieve growth.

    He said: ‘’There must be a concerted and sustained investment in the sector in the next couple of years. We should be adding 5,000Mw to the grid yearly to meet the demand.

    The population size keeps increasing which means that the demand for energy would also increase. As the infrastructure gets better, more people would come to grips with their jobs especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The manufacturers, artisans and others need electricity for growth.

    “If today, they say the power plants can generate 10,000Mw available, where is the gas to power it? The whole value chain needs to be looked at. If you are producing 5,000MW, how many kilometres of pipelines are coming? How is the gas going to get the targeted power stations? ‘’

    He urged the government to introduce third-party scheme to enable power firms acquire gas through a secondary arrangement, such as buying gas from the Nigeria Liquefied and Natural Gas (NLNG) for power sector development.

  • Presidency approves bid opening 10 power plants

    Presidency approves bid opening 10 power plants

    The National Council on Privatization (NCP) and the governing board of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) at the weekend approved the opening of the financial bids of the 42 prequalified bidders out of 66 bidding consortia for the 80 per cent equity in the 10 NIPP power plants.

    The joint meeting in Abuja that was chaired by Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo that gave the nod also directed that the bids be opened on March 7th, 2014 in keeping with the published timeline for the transaction.

    A statement of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) which made this disclosure yesterday, noted that the  42 bidders that have been prequalified met the criteria set forth in the requests for proposal (RFP) and passed the due diligence verification conducted on technically qualified bidders.

    The Vice President in his remarks commended the Joint Technical Transaction Committee (JTTC) chaired by Governor of Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswan, noting that the PHCN transaction, “was a highly transparent process and government had assured investors participating in the NIPP transaction that the same level of transparency will be replicated”.

    The JTTC is made up of the Technical Committee of NCP and Technical Committee of NDPHC.
    The NIPP Privatization is a joint transaction between the NCP and the Governing Board of NDPHC.  The 10 plants are jointly owned by the three tiers of government; local, state and federal governments with the Federal Government contributing 47% equity stake and the local and state governments with the remaining 53 per cent equity.

    The Vice President further noted that the privatization of the 10 NIPP power plants is the first time the private sector, National Assembly, Federal, State and Local governments are joining forces to ensure an all inclusive transaction process, following a highly successful investors’ fora spanning five countries.

    He said all the three tiers of government and the private sector in Nigeria were continuing to collaborate in the privatization process of the power plants which is being jointly offered for sale by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) to ensure that the same level of transparency acclaimed the world over in the PHCN transaction was replicated in the NIPP transaction process.

    According to him, if Nigeria was going to be among the 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020, the right steps must be taken, assuring that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan is committed to ensuring that those right steps are taken going forward in implementing the Transformation Agenda; adding that this transaction is one such big step.

    The statement recalled that 66 proposals were earlier received from prospective investors interested in the 10 NIPP plants on November 8, 2013,

    An inter-agency evaluation team, including security agencies met from 12 to 22 November to evaluate the proposals, the evaluation report was subjected to the scrutiny of the Joint Transaction Committee and the Joint Technical Transaction Committee before approval by the Joint NCP/NDPHCN Board meeting. The Joint NCP/NDPHC board therefore approved that 42 out of the 66 were prequalified to continue to the financial bid opening stage.

    In order to be deemed technically qualified, the bidders must meet the following criteria in three broad areas as set out in the requests for proposal; namely:  completeness and substantial responsiveness; ability to finance the acquisition and relevant experience and quality of business plan.

    The 10 power plants being offered for sale are: Alaoji , Benin , Calabar , Egbema ,  Gbarain, Geregu , Ogorode , Olorunsogo , Omoku and  Omotoshho

  • Pipeline vandalism reduces power output by 1600MW

    Pipeline vandalism reduces power output by 1600MW

    About 1,600 Mega Watts (MWs) of electricity have been lost to gas pipeline vandalism, the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has said.

    Nebo, who addressed reporters yesterday in Abuja, with Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam, at the end of the joint meeting of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) adduced political motives as some of the reasons behind gas pipelines’ vandalism.

    Out of the 1,600 MWs drop in power, he said, about 460 MWs reduction was caused by low level of water in Kainji, Shiroro and Jebba dams.

    He said: “It is important to note that with regards to the busting of gas pipelines and vandalism of the pipelines that bring gas, there isn’t any significant commercial value behind the action. It is sheer madness, or may be essentially politically motivated, just to cause damage to the entire country and to Nigerians.

    “What these young men steal from the transformers are copper. When you put the total sum of the most recent one that they vandalised, all the copper they collected that they will sell as scrap is not worth up to N10,000, but in the interim, they have knocked off one million people from power supply, and also of course it caused  the DISCO N27 million to fix the damage.”

    Nebo appealed to Nigerians to lend their support and help protect the equipment from these vandals.

    “I think it is instructive for the entire populace to know what has been happening recently. A couple of months ago, the western axis of the gas pipeline leading to the power plants in the west were cannibalised, resulting in very severe damages that caused a sharp drop in power supply. That has since been addressed and the damages are been repaired,” he said.

    Nebo explained that a couple of weeks ago, the Akoloma Plant in the Eastern axis was also vandalised, saying the damages were quite extensive. However, he said a team of experts went to work and restored it, adding that this led to the restoration of power to the Afam plant eventually.

    The minister lamented that when people were rejoicing in some parts of the country where power supply was stabilising, another sabotage was discovered a few days ago at Akoloma, which he confirmed was receiving attention.

    He assured that in the next six weeks, the western axis would be fixed, and that a portion of the 1,600MW already lost, would be recovered.

    “We are appealing for understanding that the load shedding we are encountering needs the support of everybody in educating these vandals to stop sabotaging government’s efforts…”

  • Re: Scramble for power plants

    Re: Scramble for power plants

    YOUR Inside Business article under the heading: “Scramble for power plants” published on Sunday, July 21, 2013, provided a lot of insider details if not useful insights on the issues besetting the nation’s power sector and at best the renewed vigour with which the government is pursuing development in the sector.

    To be sure, the writer also provided a lot of arsenal with which any discerning public can attempt a post mortem at the end of the much touted privatisation. But pray, is it time to bring out our drums and cymbals yet to celebrate? I think not.

    For the avoidance of doubt, here’s a recap of the article, which would suffice.

    From the report, we are made to understand that the power plants designed by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) are selling like hotcakes judging by the heightened interests expressed by 110 prospective investors for the 10 thermal stations. The NDPHC is currently offering for sale 80 per cent stakes in the 10 gas-fired power generating stations it built from the scratch on behalf of the three tiers of government.

    Specifically, the transactions, to be conducted through International Competitive Bidding is supposed to cover the following generation companies namely: Alaoji Generation Company Nigeria Limited, situated near Aba in Abia State of Nigeria with total gross installed capacity of 831.3 MW (at ISO); Benin Generation Company Limited, situated near Benin City in Edo State and with total gross installed capacity of 507.6 MW (at ISO); Calabar Generation Company Limited – situated near Calabar city in Cross River State, with a total gross installed capacity of 634.5MW (at ISO); Egbema Generation Company Limited – situated near Owerri in Imo State with a total gross installed capacity of 380.7 MW (at ISO); and Gbarain Generation Company Limited, situated near Yenegoa in Bayelsa State with total gross installed capacity of 253.8 MW (at ISO).

    Others are Geregu Generation Company Limited in Ajaokuta, Kogi State with total gross installed capacity of 506.1 MW (at ISO); Ogorode Generation Company Limited, Sapele Delta State with total gross installed capacity of 507.6 MW (at ISO); Olorunsogo Generation Company Limited, situated in Olorunsogo in Ogun State with total gross installed capacity of 754 MW (at ISO); Omoku Generation Company Limited, near Port Harcourt in Rivers State of Nigeria with total gross installed capacity of 264.71 MW (at ISO); and Omotosho Generation Company Limited in Okitipupa local government area of Ondo State, with total gross installed capacity of 512.82 MW (at ISO).

    Besides, in order to handle the sale of the power plants in line with due process and laid down procedure, the three tiers of government reportedly set up three committees namely, the Joint Evaluation Committee, with the mandate to evaluate the expression of interest for the power plants. The Joint Transaction Committee of the NDPHC headed by Managing Director, NDPHC, Mr. James Olotu; and the Joint Technical Committee, headed by Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam.

    Also towards this, the NDPHC, alongside the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and other stakeholders in the power sector, recently launched a road-show in Lagos, London in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and New York in the United States, to provide needed information to potential investors on the 10 power plants.

    Expectedly, a great scramble is under way for the NDPHC plants. With Nigeria’s population of over 160 million people, the country is without doubt the largest market for investors in Africa. It is against this backdrop that over 200 investors have indicated interests in acquiring the NDPHC plants.

    Also, these investors are seeking to capitalise on the growth opportunities in the Nigerian electricity market where demand far outstrip current supply and the potential for strong economic growth is high.

    Moreover, some foreign investors are interested in the plants because they want to establish a strong presence in West Africa, using Nigeria as a platform for acquiring further assets in the region.

    The NDPHC plants are also being sought after since they are all newly constructed and as such offer the best fuel efficiency and lowest operating costs, thereby relieving investors of pressure from construction cum commissioning costs.

    Investors are also excited by the NDPHC plants because they are assets that can be further developed, as all but one of the open cycle gas turbine power plants have the potential for expansion and growth.

    In addition, these investors relish the opportunity to partner with the three tiers of government who have shown a strong commitment to the country’s power sector reforms, including taking several measures to support the creditworthiness of investments in the country.

    The power plants have also attracted mammoth investors’ interest because their buyers-operator would benefit from a Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) designed to be cost-reflective tariff that accounts for operating cost and capital recovery, incentivising efficient operations based on best new entrant capabilities and technology. The MYTO also brings certainty to the tariff regime.

    Potential operators are also scrambling for the NDPHC power plants because they would benefit from a Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with the Federal Government owned entity – the Bulk Electricity Trading Plc. (NBET) – which will act as the bulk buyer of electricity in the early stages of market liberalisation.

    And, the opportunity to benefit from the 10-year term Gas Supply and Aggregation Agreements with Nigerian oil producers makes the NDPHC’s power plants a good buy for private sector investors.

    At the Hong Kong road-show, Suswam disclosed that the three tiers of government have thus invested well over $8 billion in building 10 power plants and expect over $6 billion (about N936 billion) in revenue from their sale.

    The revenue receipt, according to Mr. Olotu, would be ploughed back into the sustained capacity development in the power sector, specifically to build a number of hydropower dams across Northern Nigeria.

    But what remains to be seen is how the government will provide the gas supply need to energise these systems. What is the state of our gas turbines? Are they adequate enough? Can they serve the purpose?

    These are questions which require urgent and quick answers by Nigerians who are more than desirous of seeing a giant leap in the power sector. Before the euphoria over the power plants dies, it is trite to say that government must be seen to be proactive and not reactive on these score.

     

    Abdullahi, a public affairs analyst, wrote in from Awka, Anambra State

  • Can power plants generate 5153MW?

    Can power plants generate 5153MW?

    The 10 power plants, built under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) and supervised by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) on behalf of the three tiers of government, are expected to generate 5153megawatts(MW) and be fully privatised by mid next year.But can the company generate 5153MW when it is eventually handed over to investors? Assistant Editor (Energy) EMEKA UGWUANYI asks

     

    The planned privatisation of the 10 power generation plants built under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) has begun, with the kick off of the road-shows in Lagos road-shows, which also will be held in the United States, the United Kingdom and some Asian countries, are platforms employed by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) to meet with prospective investors that have capacity to buy the assets.

    The NIPP programme was conceived in 2004 as a fast-track initiative to add significant new generation capacity to Nigeria’s electricity supply system. Besides construction of 10 power plants, the project factored in construction of complementary electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure, as well as the infrastructure required to deliver the natural gas needed at the power plants.

    The NIPP projects are funded from the excess crude account, with the Federal Government contributing 47 per cent of the funds, while the 36 state governments contribute 35 per cent and the 774 local governments 18 per cent. Currently, an approximated S$8.4 billion has been committed to the project, the Managing Director of NDPHC, James Olotu said.

    The NIPP plants were designed to deliver combined installed capacity of 5,453 megawatts (MW). Eight of the 10 power plants are designed as Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) power plants and the other two as Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plants. The CCGT power plants, can generate power through gas and steam turbines but because of timeline for handover of the assets to new investors proposed for mid next year, the completion of the steam turbines might not be realistic.

    For instance, the Alaoji power plant was designed as a CCGT project with a plant capacity of 1,131.4 MW. However, it is expected that, by the handover date for this plant, only one of the steam turbines would have been installed. Therefore, the plant will be available for commercial operation as an 831.3 MW plant. As result of some of these hitches, the NDPHC is projecting a combined generation of 5153.1MW as against 5,453MW by the time the assets will be handed over to the new investors.

    Besides the anticipated inability to construct the steam turbines in the combined cycle plants within the stipulated period, there are other concerns including the provision of pipeline to supply gas to the assets. Currently, the NIPP plants supply below 2,000MW, indicating that over 3153MW will be realised from the project in the next one year.

    At several meetings, Olotu has lamented the dearth of gas supply to completed turbines in some of the NIPP assets. Also,there are still some of the power plants that have several outstanding turbines to build. Although the timelines look good, to achieve them seem pretty difficult.

     

    Initial output

    According to the NDPHC chief, Olotu, the Alaoji Generation Company Nigeria Limited located in Abia State, which is the biggest of the power plants will be generating 831.3MW at the time of handover, while the Benin Generation Company Limited in Ihovbor, Edo State, will have 507MW output. The Egbema Generation Company Limited, Imo State, Gbarain Generation Company Limited, Bayelsa State, Calabar Generation Company Limited, Cross River and Geregu Generation Company Limited in Kogi State will have generation capacities of 380.7MW, 253.8MW, 634.5MW and 506.1MW.

    Ogorode Generation Company Limited in Sapale, Delta State will be generating 507.6MW, while Olorunsogo Generation Company Limited in Ogun State will have 754MW output. Omoku Generation Company Limited in Rivers State will be generating 264.7MW with Omotosho Generation Company Limited in Ondo State supplying 512.8MW.

    According to Olotu, seven of the eight OCGT power plants could be upgraded to CCGT configuration, adding that five of the power plants are either fully or partially operating today.

    He noted that four gas turbines of Alaoji Genco will be commissioned by December 2013 while one of the two steam turbines of the plant will be commissioned in May 2014. Other plants that some of their turbines will be commissioned in 2014 include Calabar Generation Company Limited.

    Olotu noted that NDPHC has made some substantial investments in transmission and distribution. He said 2,370MVA of 330kV and 132kV transformer capacities already in service in the national grid, while 519km of transmission lines have been strung out of 2,903km with 346.7km of transmission lines already in service or energised awaiting full utilisation.

    In distribution, 72 injection substations have been commissioned, with 3,517 completely self- protected 25kVA and 50kVA customer transformers installed and 650MVA out of 3,750MVA of 33/11kV Injection substation already in service or awaiting full utilisation.

    He said that 80 per cent of the outstanding shares of the plants will be sold following a competitive bidding process. Each generation company will benefit from a contract structure covering the sale of electricity, the supply and transportation of natural gas, and access to the electricity transmission network, he added.

    Meanwhile, the timelines of the privatisation indicate that submission of expression of interest is July 19, short-listing of bidders August 8, availability of request for proposals August 16, while opening of data rooms is on August 16. The bidders conference in Abuja is billed for September 18-19 while deadline for submission of proposals holds November 8.

  • NDPHC delivers eight projects in Enugu, others

    The Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC), owners of National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), has delivered eight distribution projects in the southeast and Southsouth region as part of its mandate to substantially improve power supply by end of this year.

    The Managing Director of the inauguration of the projects, said NIPP projects are meant to provide improved power supply to all parts of the country. “We have said that this year will be a year of bumper harvest with NIPP projects. No part of the country is left out, so we will continue to commission projects as they are completed in different parts of the country,” Olotu stated.

    The Deputy General Manager and Head of Communication and Public Relations of the company, Mr Yakubu Lawal, in a statement, said Olotu stressed the company’s commitment to actualising the transformation agenda of the government. “We are committed to the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan and that of the vice President who also doubles as Chairman NDPHC to deliver all distribution projects to Nigerians by end of June this year.”

    Lawal listed the projects inaugurated in four states to include, 15MVA 33/11 distribution injection. Sub-station in Uluku Edo, state, 7.5MVA 33/11 distribution substation each in Isele Uku and Illah in Delta State. Also inaugurated were 1×7.5MVA injection sub-station each in Orafite and Amichi in Anambra State.

    In Enugu State, Olotu inaugurated a 2×2.5MVA distribution injection sub-station and 7.5MVA distribution injection substation in the trade fair area of Enugu as well as 7.5MVA injection sub-station in New Heaven.

    The Chief Operating Officer of Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Effiong Umoren and his Enugu Distribution Company counterpart, Suleiman Yahaya, who were in the inauguration team to assist Olotu expressed appreciation to the three tiers of the government for investing in NIPP, pointing out that the inaugurated projects would boost supply to the consumers and relieve existing facilities that were over-loaded.

    Olotu also visited ongoing transmission projects in Asaba in Delta State, Awka in Anambra State, Ugwuaji and New Heaven in Enugu State.

    As part of its project delivery strategy, Chairman of the Board has slated a pre-inaguration milestones meeting in his office with NDPHC management, contractors and project consultants for the end of this month.

    Sambo, at a January 26 meeting with the distribution and transmission contractors, gave up to end of June, this year to deliver distribution projects and December, this year for transmission.