215MW Kudenda power project for completion 2022

The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu has assured that the 215 megawatt (MW) Kudenda power station in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State, which has reached 80 per cent completion, will be completed before the end of 2022.

The minister who was on an inspection tour of the power plant yesterday said, the plant designed to use both gas and diesel, will run on the diesel on completion, pending the delivery of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas project.

The turbine power station was initiated by late President Umaru Yar’ Adua, started by former President Goodluck Jonathan administration but abandoned by that government in the twilight of its administration despite nearing completion.

According to the minister who inspected the project alongside Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, said the present administration is worried about the power generation hovering around 5,000MW, noting that efforts are in top gear to quickly increase it to 7,000MW, then 11,000MW before finally reaching 25,000MW in a few years.

He said the major challenge faced by electricity in Nigeria is poor transmission of power generated, while stating that the government is doing everything possible to harvest the generated power, transmit them and generally improve electricity supply across the country.

“This power station project started in 2012 and it has reached over 80 per cent completion before work stalled, now we are trying to revive it. There are four partners and we are discussing with them to see how we can complete the project and bring it on stream. It would be powered by diesel first before the supply of gas because it uses dual sources of power.

“This year is the year of delivery, the present situation we are in is not good enough; we have to improve. The power generated has been 5,000MW for a long time, it would be going down without investment which is why we are having system collapse, we had 15 or 16 year back, last year there were only two system collapses.

“Within six months, you will see the electricity of this country improve. The Siemens which is an agreement struck between Nigeria and Germany will come on stream, there are 10 massive transformers to be deployed all-round the country in specific locations. We also deployed 175 mobile substations, some greenfield, some brownfield, which are going to be constructed.

“This is 215MW, we have lots of them; Gurara Dam with 30MW, Zungeru with 700MW, Kashimbila has given 40MW to the grid, Dadinkowa also 40MW. We will increase energy. I was in Katsina on new year day, January 1, to inspect the windmill which will produce 10MW and a 330KVA transmission line to Kano.”

The minister lamented that many of the power facilities were allowed to become moribund, but he said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration will do everything possible to bring them back to life and ensure that stable electricity without power outages reaches every household.