NERC grants 190mw Ibom Power licence for additional 495mw

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday granted a licence to the 190 megawatts (mw) Ibom Power to add 495mw to its plant in Akwa Ibom state.
 The plant, wholly owned by the state government, has been generating and transmitting power to the national grid from its three gas turbines –  the GT-1, which generates 39mw; GT-2-41mw and GT-3-126mw  –  since 2009.
 The Ibom Power Managing Director, Victor Udo, said the plant has a pre-designed generation capacity of 685mw, on which the state government has approached the NERC for an expanded licence to develop.
 It already has its natural gas source from Septa Energy’s integrated gas receiving facility, which reportedly supplies the 563 Calabar and 504mw Alaoji plant built under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs).
 Speaking on the state investment, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel Udom said, “As at today, the state government spent about $22m on transmission lines. But the TCN should also try to upgrade because there is no point producing 685mw and you cannot evacuate.”
 The NERC Chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, had earlier noted that the expanded licence was based on its fulfillment of the regulatory requirements demanded of it, saying, “We have very strict procedure for licencing and if we are sitting here with the governor today to sign and present their licence, that is indicative that the government of Akwa Ibom has scrupulously followed the procedure and they have been certified worthy and able to increase their capacity from 190mw to a whooping 685mw. That is not easy.”
 The Commissioner for Legal and Licensing at NERC, Dr. Steven Adzinge informed that the Commission has granted 126 licences to investors in the power sector within its 10 years of being established, adding that the generation licence ought to have given Nigeria 35,314mw on-grid power supply.
  “Our scorecard for now shows that we have issued about 126 licences since inception of NERC and NERC has been in existence for about 10 years. Out of these licences, on-grid are 72, off-grid 25, embedded is six, distribution 14, trading is one, transmission is one and system operation, one.
  “In terms of on-grid, we have 22,216mw, off-grid 428mw and embedded, 298mw; NIPPs have 5,032mw; PHCN successor companies have about 7,283mw and legacy IPP 708mw. The total capacity for on-grid is 35,314mw, off-grid 428.12mw and embedded generation 298mw,” he said.