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Shiroro to get 300MW solar power plant

By on December 2, 2015

The new operator of the Shiroro Hydroelectric Power Plant, North-South Power Company, plans to build a new solar power plant with a capacity to generate 300 megawatts of electricity, the Bureau of Public Enterprises has said.

A statement issued by Head of Public Communications, BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh, in Abuja on Monday, said the company disclosed this during a post-privatisation tour by a team of officials of the privatisation agency led by Mr. Abdullahi Shuaibu.

The firm’s Chief Technical Officer, Mr. Roland Lwiindi, said to boost power supply in the country, the Shiroro Hydroelectric Power Station planned to construct a 300MW photovoltaic solar power plant on the existing premises.

He told the BPE monitoring team that once approval had been obtained from the necessary authorities, the first phase of the project would come on stream in 2017 and it would be the first of its kind in Africa.

According to him, when completed, the plant will add 300MW of electricity to the existing 600MW from Shiroro, adding that the plant was at present generating 50 per cent of its installed capacity.

He noted that as a hydro powered plant, its generating capacity usually declines during the dry season but that the proposed solar facility would shore up its power generation capacity during the off-peak season.

For the current dry season, Lwiindi said the plant would rely on the sun to make up for the shortfall in power generation.

While stating that the management of the power plant had the requisite expertise to realise the envisaged gains of privatisation, the official said Siemens Nigeria and Tetratec America were the company’s key technical partners.

He gave an assurance that with the infrastructural upgrade and technical expertise at the disposal of the company, the country would continue to witness improved power supply.

The Chief Operations Officer of the plant, Abdul-Aziz Daudu, informed the BPE monitors that since takeover by the new investors, the generators and three out of the four turbines had been overhauled to boost power output from the plant, adding that plans were on to overhaul the fourth turbine.

Meanwhile, the Minster of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, on Monday held an enlarged meeting with officials of the ministry, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and power distribution companies.

Most of those who attended the meeting refused to disclose the key issues discussed, but it was learnt that the minister made his expectations from the operators clear.

A chief executive of a power firm and an official of the ministry who were present at the meeting told our correspondent that although nothing “so special” was highlighted during the gathering, the minister, however, used the opportunity to ask for additional information on happenings in the sector.

A senior official in the ministry, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said, “It was a ministerial meeting called by the minister and it involved the NERC, the ministry and the Discos.

“The meeting was called to find out what’s going on in the industry and it was more like a family meeting for industry players. It was an orderly meeting and there was nothing so special about it that required your (journalists’) presence.”

During a power stakeholders’ forum in Abuja last week, Fashola had told the operators that the Federal Government would not tolerate poor supply of electricity, unnecessary system collapses and incessant electrocution of Nigerians caused by the usage of substandard materials.
[Punch]