The Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor has assured that plans are nearing completion on the delivery of 624 megawatts to the national grid from its Afam VI power plant in Rivers State.
However, he said the delivery is dependent on any restrictions from the regulator of the power market.
The scheme is a Clean Development Mechanism project under the United Nations Executive Board for Climate Change, Afam VI power plant targets to eliminate over 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission per year, while also maintaining excellent safety standards, the firm said.
Located in Afam village in Oyigbo Local Government Area, the plant receives gas from SPDC JV’s gas plant at neighbouring Okoloma village.
Okunbor said the SPDC Joint Venture-owned combined cycle power plant was ably maintained to consistently deliver 624MW from an installed capacity of 650MW with its three gas turbines and one steam turbine now functioning well.
In a statement, Okunbor recalled that “In 2017 alone, Afam VI supplied approximately 14 per cent of Nigeria’s grid-connected electricity and the plant has delivered over 25.97 trillion watt-hour of electricity into the Nigerian grid in the last 10 years.
“What is most exciting is that the plant has achieved this milestone, while also touching the lives of community people and helping youths to acquire key engineering skills.”
“The operations at Afam VI had generated subcontract opportunities and employment for over 150 people from the 16 host communities, and provided hands-on and offshore training for 30 youths in electrical, mechanical and instrumentation engineering on combined cycle power plant operations and maintenance.
Continuing, he noted that “All the trainees are employable in the Nigerian power industry,” and explained that the Afam VI power plant uses combined cycle gas turbine technology that burns 40 per cent less gas than plants using older open cycle technologies, adding that this was contributing significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Business Hilights recalls that in November 2017, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) renewed the Afam VI power generation licence for another 10 years, and a month later, the company signed an interim multi-year agreement with General Electric to improve the power plant’s availability, reliability and output for up to 200,000 Nigerian homes, while decreasing its operational costs.
The deal included maintenance for the four turbines and upgrades of the gas turbines to help increase the plant capacity by up to 30MW.
Others include increasing its efficiency and significantly saving fuel and reducing carbon dioxide emissions to the barest minimum.
