Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has revealed that the pilot phase of the Presidential Power Initiative also known as the Siemens power deal has so far increased the wheeling capacity of the transmission company of Nigeria by 750MW. He said that an additional 150 megawatts (MW) of electricity would be added to Nigeria’s national grid before the year ends.
Adelabu who spoke to journalists after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at the presidential villa said to that the pilot phase of the presidential power initiative (PPI) has reached 80% completion and the remaining part will be completed in few weeks time.
“We believe that before the end of the year, an additional 150 megawatts will be added upon completion of the entire pilot phase.” he said.
“We have a bilateral relationship with the Republic of Germany that focuses on energy and electricity support. The name of the game now is about cooperation, collaboration, and partnership. We have completed the pilot phase of this project up to 80%,” the Minister noted.
The Minister remarked that the Siemens project is a flagship component of the partnership, aimed at implementing both brownfield and greenfield transmission substations under the PPI.
According to Adelabu, the pilot phase includes the importation and installation of 10 power transformers as well as 10 mobile substations from Siemens. He revealed that eight have already been commissioned.
“The positive impact of this is that it has added nothing less than 750 megawatts to our transmission grid capacity,” he said.
For the next phase of the Siemens deal, which is much larger in scope and capital outlay, the Minister said it would involve revamping of 14 existing substations and establishing 23 new ones across the country. He stated that the entire grid is quite fragile and dilapidated and would need to be revamped to ensure stability.
LONG-TERM ENERGY STRATEGY
While speaking on the country’s long-term strategy in the power sector and the energy transition plan, the minister said that Nigeria is looking towards renewable energy with the aim to also achieve a net zero emissions by 2060.
To this end, the minister said Germany’s expertise in renewable technologies aligns perfectly with Nigeria’s natural resources. He noted that Germany has technology while Nigeria has abundance of sunlight and wind with over 30 states in Nigeria enjoying a minimum of 10 hours of sunshine daily.
The minister also revealed that part of what was discussed at the meeting were plans for off-grid solutions, where he called for a distributed power model where each state would have its own generating plants. This model, he said will shield states from problems on the national grid and ensure rural electrification.