*Library photo of a plant
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) have signed a $1.1 million grant for the NNPC Abuja Independent Power Project. The signing of the agreement took place Tuesday morning at the ongoing Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja. The plant is designed to generate 1,350 megawatts of electricity to alleviate the power challenge in the country.
According to Mr Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, the plan by the corporation to build the 1,350mw power plant in Abuja was part of the national strategy to monetize the abundant natural gas resources in the country. The USTDA grant will complement the ongoing feed project in order to make the Abuja Independent Power Plant (IPP) initiative more bankable for strategic investors’ participation. Going by the plan, the Abuja 1,350MW IPP project would leverage the existing huge natural gas resources from the NNPC upstream and the proposed Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline.
The minister who spoke during a Panel Review Meeting on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project, the minister said the project was critical to the federal government given its numerous potentials to improve the power situation in parts of the country. While assuring his ministry’s support towards ensuring actualization of the project, the minister commended the government and the national oil company for the initiative.
Making a presentation at the meeting, the Abuja IPP Project Manager, Mr Benjamin Adah, said the proposed project would help diversify and monetize NNPC gas revenue stream through power generation. The project would also assist in reducing the current gas flare in the country, he said, adding that it would leverage the existing huge natural gas resources from the NNPC Upstream and the proposed AKK gas pipeline to boost the nation’s revenue base and generate employment opportunities for the youth.
Mr Adah said that besides generating 1,350MW into the national grid, the project would help to decongest the over-voltage on transmission network coming from closely located power generating companies in the gas-producing areas. The project is expected to be located on a 54.7 hectares of land in Dukpa, Gwagwalada Area Council of Nigeria’s federal capital territory, Abuja.
