Efforts by the Federal Government to improve power supply in the country received a major boost today as President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan gave the nod for the construction of a new National SuperGrid that will address most of the country’s current power transmission problems.
Efforts by the Federal Government to improve power supply in the country received a major boost today as President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan gave the nod for the construction of a new National SuperGrid that will address most of the country’s current power transmission problems.
The new 700 KV SuperGrid which will be completed in four years at a projected cost of $3.5 Billion is expected to fulfill Nigeria’s need to transmit increasing amounts of power across vast distances which the existing 330/132KV grid cannot meet.
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In granting approval for the SuperGrid at the weekly meeting of the Presidential Action Committee on Power which he chairs, President Jonathan directed that it should be funded as a Federal asset with additional financing from private investors and international finance and development agencies.
The SuperGrid which will run along the same route as the existing 330/132KV grid will also address Nigeria’s future energy challenges including transition to more sustainable energy sources, reduction of power loss per transmitted megawatt and improving power voltage profiles across the country.
The huge advantage of the 700 KV supergrid over the existing 330/132 KV grid is that it will significantly reduce the huge amount of power currently lost in transmission.
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Without the supergrid, the quantum of power lost in transmission will continue to increase as more power progressively becomes available for evacuation from new and rehabilitated generating stations. Periodic systemic failures will also become more frequent.
According to current projections by the Presidential Task Force on Power, Nigeria’s available generation capacity will rise to 6939 MW by April next year and 14019 MW by December 2013.
In another development, President Jonathan will on Thursday, August 26, 2010, present a new roadmap for the reformation of Nigeria’s power sector to the country’s private sector.
The President will seize the opportunity of the event in Lagos to acquaint members of the private sector with fresh investment opportunities inherent in the power sector reform programme and invite greater private sector support for the programme.
Ima Niboro
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
August 10, 2010
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