Construction Of 700MW Zungeru Power Plant Resumes

Construction works has resumed at the site of the 700 megawatts (MW) Zungeru power plant in Niger State, after the federal government facilitated an out of court settlement by parties involved in the dispute, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said.

The minister disclosed this while delivering a lecture titled Nigeria’s Electricity Challenge: A roadmap for change, at a public lecture in Lagos yesterday.

Fashola explained that although the project which was held up in court for several years, is now three years behind, the dispute has been resolved, parties are out of court and over 800 workers are back on site.

While noting that this would deliver incremental power, he added that government is working to consider alternative and sustainable fuel supply to the 215MW plant in Kaduna which was designed to use gas, but is located several hundred kilometers away from gas sources, stressing that government has resolved never to site power plants far away from their fuel source.

“To achieve this, we are working round-the-clock within the ministry, and with other ministries like Solid Minerals, Water Resources and Ministry of Environment, to deliver an energy mix that will assist power production, investors and all stakeholders on how to site solar power in the North, hydro power in the North and North-Central, coal in the North Central and South East and gas in the South-West and South-South.

“This is our roadmap to incremental power, because it not only makes the power cheaper, if the fuel is nearer, but it makes it easier to plan and execute transmission plan, to ensure the power is evacuated and distributed,” he said.

Other imminent power sources listed by the minister as important to the quest for incremental power include the 40MW Kasimbilla power plant, the Katsina 10 MW wind and the 222 MW Gbarain plant in Bayelsa State.

He added that “There are also those who just require gas to operate and deliver full power such as the AES 240 MW plant in Lagos, the Geregu I and II plants in Kogi state where four turbines of 115 MW each simply do not have gas, the Omotosho and Olorunsogo power plants where only three turbines out of 12 turbines are working, and with the supply of gas we can increase power from the present 160MW to over 600MW,” Fashola stated.

Speaking further on the roadmap for incremental power, the minister stated that there are also plans by this administration to complete about 2,100 inherited rural electricity projects which should have been completed by law since 2006.

Source:- Leadership