The Federal Government has said the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) will complete over 200 projects to improve power supply to the distribution companies (Discos).
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, stated this yesterday, in a keynote address at the Nigeria Energy Forum (NEF) in Lagos, entitled, “Roadmap for Incremental, Stable and Uninterrupted Electricity Supply in Nigeria”.
Fashola, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Mr. Louis Edozie, said currently, TCN is concentrating on completing over 200 projects it has at hand to ensure smooth transmission of energy to the national grid.
“Electricity is a very topical subject in the country; lack of it affects production, security, comfort and standard of education. If all of us will draw all energy needs from the grid, we will need over 13,000 megawatts (MW), but unfortunately, the maximum we have from the grid is just 4,700MW.
“This is not what we want and this is not where we want to be. The government inherited a very weak transmission; throughout 2016, there was a challenge of energy evacuation in eastern part of the country. This evacuation problem which had been on for over 15 years in Calabar, Ikot-Ekpene, Alaoji, Ugwuaji transmission line has been addressed and the transmission is now in operation,” Fashola said.
He explained that the transmission line would aid the smooth evacuation of energy generated by power plants in the eastern part to the national grid, adding that the Federal Government was concentrating on legacy generation projects inherited from the past administration.
He said that such projects include the small but important 1.2MW Solar Power Plant in Lower Usuma Dam, Bwari, Abuja, which is the first solar project in the country and now in operation, powering some parts of Abuja metropolis.
“The 10MW Wind Dam in Kastina, which has been under construction for many years, will soon be completed and commissioned for operation. The 30MW Phase 1 project at Gurara Hydro Power Plant in Kaduna, which had been abandoned, will also be commissioned next year and this will boost supply to Kaduna and Jebba.
The work is ongoing to ensure smooth transmission line of the energy to the grid. Also, the 700MW Zungeru Hydro Electric Power Plant, which had been abandoned several years back, will be completed by early 2019 and connected to the grid,” Fashola said.
The Minister said that work had begun on the 3,050MW Hydro Electric Power Plant in Mambilla, Taraba, which was conceived about 42 years ago.
“It is through the intervention of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration that the project was redesigned. The project will be delivered in 2024,” he said.
Director General, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Prof. Jidere Bala, said that energy worldwide was one of the drivers of economic and social development.
He said there was no way poverty could be eliminated without reliable energy supply, stating that energy supply must, however, be done in a responsible and sustainable manner.