NDPHC to Boost Power Supply by 300MW

BY JAMES ODEY

The aspiration for improved power supply to Nigerians especially to Lagos and Ogun states is now coming to reality following the visit of the managing director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Chiedu Ugbo to the Oke-Aro Power Sub-station on Wednesday, 29^th January 2020.

The Oke Aro 330/132/33 kv Power substation which lies in between Lagos and Ogun was commissioned in 2015 by former Vice President Namadi Sambo with the hopes that it would decongest the overloaded Egbin powerlines to ease transmission to the two states.

The NDPHC boss who was accompanied by Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Olalere Odusote, to conduct a facility tour of the Oke-Aro power sub-station, said the sub-station with at least 100 megawatts capacity is currently taking less than 30 Mega Watts.

Ugbo said “All these transmission lines are all in service, but we are concerned that they are not in full service. We have electricity to serve Nigerians, but they are stranded whether at the power stations or transmission substations like this because at the distribution end, there are issues where people are not being served, so the distribution cannot pick the load from here. This is our concern and we are collaborating seriously with the Lagos State government to see how we can make sure that this available electricity gets to end-users.”

“As part of the designs of this project, we have a 132Kv transmission line that is taking off from here to Alausa and that project has been on but we have serious challenges and we have enlisted the support of the Lagos State which is actively trying to support us address these challenges.”

“It is not just the Lagos State part of it, but even in Ogun State as well, so we have to come to see and assess where the challenges are. The Lagos State has a programme where they needed to see the availability of power here to ensure it gets to the consumers in Lagos within their territory. We have energy here stranded as a matter of fact. We have seven feeders going out of here that should be taking at least 100MW, but the feeders between the two distribution companies are doing less than 30 MW. We are working with the Lagos State government to address the challenge,” he stressed.

The Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Lagos State, Mr. Olalere Odusote, said the Oke-Aro sub-station has the capacity to supply more power to Lagos State, saying that discussions are ongoing with Discos to evacuate power from the sub-station to Lagos.

“What I found here is that there is a capacity to be able to supply more power to Lagos State. We can do a lot more than that and from the discussions with the Discos in Lagos and from the interventions that we are trying to carry out, we realize that we need the power to come from here to come to Lagos,” he said.

The commissioner added that its Light Up Lagos programme certainly depends on power being available on the grid, saying that the interventions with the Discos will not amount to much if there is no supply.

“So, we expect that engagements and interactions with NDPHC will be able to do more for Lagos. The challenge that they have explained to us is one of getting a right of way of building a transmission line to Lagos and we have been engaging with them and till date, we do not think that there are any more issues on the Lagos State government side, because we are certainly working with them to engage with the Ogun State government to clear the Way-Leave issues we have that is hindering the transmission lines from being built to Alausa,” he added.