Adebayo Adelabu, the minister of power, has promised to
ensure the completion of the Zungeru power plant and “subsequently add 700MW to
the national grid”.
The Zungeru Hydroelectric power plant is the largest
hydroelectric dam to be built in Nigeria since the commissioning of the Kainji
dam in 1968.
Situated on River Kaduna, the power plant consists of four
turbines each with 175MW making a total installed capacity of 700MW.
It also has a total storage capacity of 11,700 million cubic
meters of water and its economic value is over N132 billion per year, based on
average annual production of 2,460 gigawatt-hours (2,460GWh) of renewable
energy.
In an interview with journalists on Friday, the newly
appointed minister, while promising Nigerians improved electricity supply
between six months and one year, said the Zungeru power plant is “about to be
completed.”
“Within the next six months, there would be a major addition
to the national grid, in terms of the hydropower plant, that is the Zungeru
700mw in Niger state that is about to be completed,” he had said.
“This will be the biggest one in sub-Saharan Africa when
completed. I will do everything to ensure that the Zungeru power plant is
inaugurated and subsequently add 700mw to the national grid.”
But in a previous statement, Abubakar Aliyu, former minister
of power, claimed otherwise.
Aliyu had said that the Zungeru power project had been
completed and the power generated from the plant had already been added to the
national grid.
“I want to say that on Thursday 25 May 2023 the Zungeru
Hydroelectric Power Plant became a reality. On Thursday we added to the grid
700MW. The testing started last on Wednesday 24 May and information has reached
us, with a pictorial view of the meters showing that the 700MW has gone on the
grid,” the former minister had said in May 2023.
Corroborating Aliyu’s statement, Sanusi Garba, the chairman
of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), said: “The Zungeru
power plant has not only added 700MW of clean generation capacity but
significantly diversified our generation mix and enhanced the nation’s security
of supply.”
It is currently unclear the cause of the disconnection
between Adelabu’s revelation and his predecessor’s claims, but a look at the website of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) shows “ongoing transaction”
below the name tag of the power plant.
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