Vice President Namadi Sambo is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of NDPHC, owners of the NIPP. According to the Executive Summary of the report, which was obtained exclusively by THISDAY, a total of 265 out of 296 injection substations have also been completed under the NIPP, with 13, 367 completely self-protected (CSP) transformers installed nationwide.
The report listed other most recent key achievements of NIPP to include the completion of 2.1 kilometres gas pipeline from Creek Town to Ikot Nyong; inauguration of the 561 megawatt-capacity Calabar Power Station Lot 1 built by Marubeni West Africa; inauguration of 330KV DC Jos-Makurdi Lot 1A, which is over 250 kilometres and the inauguration of Makurdi 330/132/33KV Substation Lot 1B. Others include the inauguration of 132KV DC Adiabo-Calabar transmission substation, among others.
In the area of power generation, the report listed six out of the 10 NIPP power plants, which are already adding power to the national grid. These six power stations are now ready to generate 2,910 megawatts of electricity into the grid, subject to the availability of gas supply.
A breakdown of the generating capacities of these plants showed that the 562.5 megawatt-capacity Calabar Power Station built by Marubeni is now generating 112.5 megawatts; 451mw-capacity Ihovbor Power Plant in Edo State is now producing 225 megawatts; while the 451mw-capacity Sapele Power Station, also built by Marubeni currently generates 112.5mw.
Others include 450 mw-capacity Olorunsogo Power Station in Ogun State, which generates 225megawatts; 450 megawatt-capacity Omotosho Power Station in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State which generates 225 megawatts and 434.1mw-capacity Geregu Power Station in Kogi State, which generates 289.4 megawatts.
The report identified vandalism of gas pipeline as a major risk facing the NIPP plants, noting that the vandalism of the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline “has resulted in major curtailment of generation at Ihovbor, Sapele, Omotosho, Olorunsogo and Geregu.”
The report also disclosed that there are no committed gas supplies for Geregu and Ihovbor. NIPP was conceived in 2004 as a major fast-track initiative to add significant new generation capacity to Nigeria’s electricity supply industry.
The generation projects are accompanied by supporting transmission, distribution and gas transport infrastructure projects.
NIPP includes ten medium-sized gas fired power plants. Eight of these power plants were initially designed as open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) power plants while the remaining two were designed as combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants.
Seven of the OCGT plants have the capacity to be expanded to combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) configuration.
[ThisDay]
