Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, assures Deltans of improvement in power supply. This was disclosed at the weekend, during the inauguration of unit GT 18 of the Delta 1V Power Station at Ughelli, in Delta State, which recently increased power generation to the national grid by an additional 130MW.

The minister gave the Ringardas Nigeria Limited, an Indian company, 20 days to evacuate the company's bitumen tank on gas pipeline, when he also visited the Sapele Power Plant at the weekend.

Prior to the inauguration, the Ughelli power plant generated 230MW from four units, but with the restoration of an additional unit, the station is now generating 360MW, meaning, an addition of 130MW to the existing 4,300 MW in the national grid.

Inaugurating the unit, Professor Nnaji recalled that, when he promised the nation that power supply would improve from July this year, what he had in mind was that, some lost power generation stations or units would be recovered, in addition to building new power stations.

The Minister of Power called for proper maintenance and management of power facilities, with a warning that the ministry would not compromise standards, just as he promised steady supply of gas to power the stations.

Besides, Nnaji allayed the fears of workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Plc, over the power reform policy of the Federal Government, saying that, “government cannot go to China or any country to import labour, but will make do with Nigerians, who have acquired experience over the years in power generation and distribution.”

Earlier, while conducting the minister and his entourage, comprising the Minister of State for Power, Mr Darius Ishiaku, Permanent Secretary, Dr Dere Awosika round the restored unit, the Chief Executive Officer, Ughelli Power Plc, Mr Okechukwu Augustine Udeh, said the GT 18 was the biggest contributor to power generation from the station.

“The actual site design capacity of these units is 20MW each, but the units had to be de-rated for extended operation. They are due for major inspection. In fact, all the units in Delta II and III require major inspection, so as to restore them to their original status," Udeh added.

He said the GT 18 was brought back to service, because the company utilised its MYTO Internally Generated resources (IGR) to pay for the major inspection and restoration.

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Welldone
written by THEO, August 20, 2012

Welldone to you
Prof. and your team.

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