C-River, Siemens Sign 750mw Power MoU
BY ARCHIBONG EYO, CALABAR – Seeking to fulfill its promise of providing uninterrupted power supply across the State, Cross River Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a consortium of energy firms to deliver a 750 megawatts power plant in the State.
The consortium is led by Foot-Print Africa and the project will be deployed through ship mounted turbines expected to berth in Calabar soon.
Governor Ben Ayade said when completed, the power project, which has an 18-month time-line, will have Cross River listed as the first state with 24/7 power supply in the country.
He said aside from meeting the energy needs of the State now in the region of 300 megawatts, with an additional 200 megawatts to be kept for stability, the project will also boost the government’s revenue base through the sale of about 250 megawatts to neighbouring Republic of Cameroun.
Describing the partnership as a dream come true, Governor Ayade said; “I am happy that this project does not come at any cost to us, happy that one of the key emphases is to provide uninterrupted power supply and Cross River will soon be listed as the first state with 24/7 power supply in the country.”
The Governor Ayade however stated that in the short-term, a-40 megawatts of electricity will be delivered in the next three months through a truck-mounted turbine as an emergency measure to improve electricity supply within the state.
He urged the energy consortium to review downwards to two months its proposed three months deployment period of the 40 megawatts truck mounted turbine power in order to “complement the 21 megawatts embedded plant that is nearing commissioning for use during the yuletide.”
Giving insight about the project, Chief Executive Officer of African Discovery Group and the lead consultant, Mr. Alan Kessler, said power will be delivered at no cost to the state.
According to him, “The system is of course free of charge and it will not offer any upfront cost to the people and government of Cross River State”, adding; “the ship will berth nearby and power can be conducted into the grid.”
He further justified the venture thus: “At the end of the century, Nigeria will have more people than the United States; so you need electricity to grow.”
Kessler explained that the new technology is ‘quick, efficient and consistent’ even as he acknowledged the importance of electricity in socio-economic growth and development of society.
The Lead Consultant said the firm has ships based in Singapore but that would the firm will be “replacing the hull of the ships with turbines from Siemens,”, noting that these would run with natural gas which Nigeria has in abundance within the South-south region to “power the 42 individual turbines that will generate 750mw and plug into your grid.”
On the poor power situation in the country, Kessler said with its growing population, Nigeria’s power needs will hugely increase by the end of the century and urgent measures must be taken to fix things if government seriously intends to meet the quest for industrialization that has remained the bane of development in Africa.
