Nigeria’s 10 megawatts windfarm which has repeatedly overshot its completion and energy delivery timeline would now achieve both milestones in the last quarter (Q4) of 2017, the permanent secretary in the country’s power ministry, Mr. Louis Edozien, has disclosed.
Edozien, told a gathering of electricity stakeholders at the just ended Nigeria Energy Forum (NEF) in Lagos, that outstanding works on the beleaguered project – the country’s first utility scale windfarm – had commenced and expected to end for its commissioning in Q4.
He explained that the resumed works were being done on unit-by-unit basis, adding that when all units have been completed, the whole would be commissioned to generate into the grid.
“The 10 megawatts Katsina windfarm has been under construction for many years; and it is now entering commissioning in units one by one and before the year runs out, that 10 megawatts would be in the grid,” said Edozien, who represented the acting president, Yemi Osinbajo at the NEF.
Earlier in January, the power minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, disclosed that additional equipment for the completion of the plant which is located in Lamber Rimi Katsina, had been ordered and shipped into Nigeria.
Also on the request of Fashola, the House of Representatives committee of power recently visited the project site to perhaps aid their debates on the project’s budget during parliamentary sitting.
Project’s facts
According to Vergnet which is responsible for the construction of the 10 megawatts windfarm, there are 37 GEV MP C 275kW wind turbines on the site, mounted at a height of 55 metres on a tilt-able tower.
Vergnet also said it was selected for the robustness of its turbines and their easy installation and maintenance which requires lighter logistics than traditional wind turbines.
It explained that while it installed the wind turbines, it also trained Nigerian technicians in France for end of erection and maintenance, adding that the team could support the construction of new wind farms in other states of Nigeria.
Contracted in 2010 at a contract sum of €18,500,000 plus N494, 020,000 with a completion period of 24 months, the project has been stuck in degrees of construction delays and controversies.
Its commissioning was scheduled for 2012 but it never happened. It also got millions of naira in annual budgetary allocations from the government with no expenditure details. A fresh N904, 546,641 million was again reportedly budgeted for the project by the ministry of power in its 2017 budget.
