29th September, 2015
Kola Adesina, Chairman of Egbin Power Plc, says Nigeria has started benefiting from the dividends of power sector privatisation because it now generates over 1,000 megawatts for the first time in eight years.
This was contained in a statement in Abuja on Monday by Mr Alex Okoh, Head, Public Communications, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
According to the statement, the company’s chairman said that the organisation which was Nigeria’s largest generation plant, now generated above 1,000mw consistently into the National Grid.
The statement reported the chairman as saying that it was the first time the plant would achieve such feat.
“This is the first time since inception of the power plant that it will achieve the feat because of the continuing investment and upgrade activities on the plant by the new investors – Sahara Power Group and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).”
The statement recalled that eight years ago, the plant hit the 1,000mw mark for barely two hours and never attained it again until now.
It also said that prior to the privatisation and handover of the plant in November 2013, Egbin averaged generation of below 500mw due to the dismal state of its six units which at its lowest point had only two out of the six units operational.
The statement said that since takeover, the new owners embarked on total overhaul of units 4, 5 and 1, allowing the units to peak at 220mw each.
This, the statement said, was the installed capacity and that the plant “had never undergone any major overhaul in its 30 years of operation”.
Adesina was also reported by the statement as saying that Unit 6 of the plant, which had been un-operational for 10 years, had been successfully restored.
It also said that the Turbine Vibration Monitoring Systems, which assisted in regulating the speed of the turbine in the event of vibration to avoid a catastrophic failure, had also been replaced.
On the medium term investment plans, Adesina said that the major overhaul of Units 2, 3 and 6 in 2016 would complete the overhaul plan scheduled until the next scheduled overhaul in 2019.
The statement said that Adesina attributed the achievements partly to the direct intervention of the Federal Government, in its determination to resolve the power crisis which had resulted in recent improvement in gas supply.
According to the statement, the chairman said that the Federal Government’s recent interventions in the gas situation had impacted on power generation positively.
“This is driving the increase in power supply in the nation, boosting socio-economic development.
“Prior to this, we had invested heavily and had the plant ready to generate power at full capacity but there was no gas to do so.
“This is indeed a good development for the power sector in Nigeria,” he said.
He, however, called for more dynamic policies and incentives for sustainable gas supply across the nation.
According to the statement, the company’s CEO, Dallas Peavey, said the transformation in Egbin commenced following its acquisition by Kepco Energy Resource Limited (KERL), in collaboration with its technical partners, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).
“Through the injection of close to N50 billion in new capital into Egbin post privatization, the Sahara Power/KEPCO partnership has brought to the power plant, an unprecedented level of innovation, professionalism, human capital development and continuing investment in new technology.
“The control room panels, installed at the plant’s inception have been removed and upgraded to state-of-the-art digital panels.
“The highlight of the main plant rehabilitation occurred in the first quarter of 2015, when the company successfully rehabilitated ST Unit 6, bringing an additional 220mw to the national grid and restoring the power plant to its installed capacity of 1320mw.”
Peavey said that upon taking over the plant, the new management brought in a new lease of life to all the stakeholders in Egbin with a clear roadmap for consistent retooling and repositioning of the company to conform to the latest technology and ensure optimal performance.
“With these developments, Egbin is now equipped to generate power at its installed 1,320mw capacity and we remain committed to sustaining the performance of the plant as we prepare to explore the prospects of expansion for enhanced power generation.
“We are already envisioning a future of 2,670mw in a few years’ time and even go beyond to 10,000mw in the next decade, if gas supply, transmission expansion and demand permits.”