NIGERIAN Flour Mills is itching to join the league of energy producers in the country, with its recent application for registration, by the electricity regulatory body, to supply five megawatt of electricity to the national grid.
The company, which is already generating its own power for its operations, told The Guardian that with its installed capacity of 40 megawatts, it was ready to sell five megawatts to the distribution companies, if given permission to do so.
The company’s electrical manager, Benjamin Rerri, an engineer, said his company was producing its own power from two gas turbines with installed capacity of 40-megawatts.
He said his company was only producing between 30 and 35 megawatts of the installed capacity of the plant, which he said could produce more for the it to go into commercial production of electricity
“The installed capacity of our gas turbine is 40 MW, but we are only producing the maximum of 35 MW, and so we have embedded power in there. We can produce more because we still have space for more installations. We generate at 11kva and that is why we are different from others. The gas usage is far cheaper than diesel,” he said
On the supply of gas, the electrical engineer said: “Gas supply is regular from gas link, but we sometimes have a drop in supply due to the activities of pipeline vandals”
The company had earlier sought the assistance of Eko Disco to help in the distribution of its excess power, but it did not work. The attempt by it to service neighbours at Apapa Port was resisted by the Landlord, the Nigerian Ports Authority, which called the company’s attention to the need for registration as power producer, for it to be able to sell its embedded power.
Flour mills is not the only company in the quest to assist the country out of its power problem, as Lafarge had last year signed agreement with Wartsila and IFC to transform WAPCO’s existing 90 megawatts dual-fuel, captive power plant into a 310 MW gas fired and highly efficient internal combustion engine power plant.
The project involves freeing some of the plant’s existing captive capacity and making it available to the national grid.
To do this, the company said it would need to construct a new 220megawatts engine power plant that will be connected to the national grid through a power purchase agreement with the National Bulk Energy Trading Company.
In a recent joint statement by the companies in the power production agreement, they said the “new agreement will triple the output of Ewekoro power plant, improving access to electricity for about 1.4 million households in the country and supporting economic growth”
Steady supply of electricity has remained a mirage in Nigeria, as the electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) are still grappling with the problems of the sector.
From vandalized gas pipes to lack of credible meter, crazy estimated billing, to inadequate supply from the generating companies, these problems seem to be defying solution.
In the midst of the crisis that have plagued the sector, citizens and organisations have also shown their willingness to generate, and if possible supply power.
However several hurdles have made their dreams unachievable.
Distribution companies in the country are now adopting the embedded generation policy and have commenced procurement activities of mini grids to serve their customers, without connection to the national grid.
The chairman of National Electricity Regulation Commission, Dr.Sam Amadi, told The Guardian two days ago that any organisation or a person that generates more than One MW of electricity would need license to sell the excess.
