Wednesday 19 February 2014

Power: TCN gets $1.2bn from FG, donor agencies

BY CHRIS OCHAYI
ABUJA — THE Board of Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, yesterday, revealed that it had received over $1.2 billion from the Federal Government and donor agencies with which it intends to increase power capacity from 5,000 to 10, 000 megawatts by 2017.
The management of TCN, which made this disclosure at a media briefing in Abuja, explained that the company had over 165 ongoing initiatives and projects, aimed at doubling the power wheeling capacity from 5000 to 10,000MW by 2017 but on balance of 7,000 megawatts delivery as of now.
The company, while giving a breakdown of the funds, said it got $150 million from African Development Bank, ADB; $170 million from France agency; 135 billion euros as quantum to fund projects;  $200 million from JAIC; and $500 million from Exim Bank of China.
A budget proposal of N24.9 billion for the company is currently receiving the attention of the members of the National Assembly for the 2014 fiscal year.
Chairman, Board of Trustees of TCN, Mr. Ibrahim Dahiru Waziri, who addressed journalists, expressed readiness to welcome investors in the transmission sub-sector of Nigeria’s Electricity Supply Industry, NESI, in order to attain the vibrancy required to meet the expectations of the growing economy.
He noted that the TCN needed investors who had a long term view of their returns to enable the company efficiently achieve its set objectives.
He said the company was willing to share its strategic national grid growth and stabilisation plans with investors wishing to key into the transmission sub-sector of the economy.
Waziri disclosed that frameworks for such partnership were being finalised to obtain legal backing and safeguards.
He said:  “It is very clear to us that for the sector to attain the vibrancy required to fully meet and exceed the expectation of our rapidly growing economy and Nigerians, we need and indeed welcome investors who have a long term view of their returns.
“We are open to sharing our strategic national grid growth and stabilisation plans with investors wishing to key in. Frameworks for such partnership are being finalised to obtain legal backing and safeguards.”
The new TCN board chairman said the board had asked the management to review and prioritise the raft of ongoing projects to ensure a more prudent focus of limited resources to key projects with immediate tangible impact.
He added that about 522 engineers were recently employed and undergoing off and on-the-job trainings, while old staff were being trained to bring about the necessary revitalisation of the work force.

Monday 17 February 2014

Electricity: Power plants in 1bn SCF gas shortfall

By SEBASTINE OBASI
THERE are indications that about 1 billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas shortfall may stall the early realisation of constant power in Nigeria, as stakeholders in the energy industry have said that it will take at least five years before uninterrupted power supply could be achieved.
Speaking on the issue of gas supply in the power industry, Austin Avuru, Chief Executive Officer, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited, said that gas demand in the last four years has gone up from under 500 million SCF, to over 1 billion SCF, per day and by the end of 2016, it will be approaching 2.5 billion SCF, to 3 billion SCF, per day.
According to him, “As we speak today, there is a shortfall of 400 million scf supply of gas a day to the power sector.   The demand is 400 million SCF, higher than what we can supply. By the end of this year, when the last batch of the NIPPs would have been sold, the short fall will be 1 billion SCF.
“There are probably one or two companies that are investing in gas development. If you start investing today in gas development, you are targeting that production for 2016 to 2017.   By 2017, we are talking about over 1 billion SCF shortfall in a very critical sector as the power sector. It is already a national emergency. Everybody in Abuja knows there is no immediate solution,” he said.
On his own part, the Chief Executive Officer of Sahara Group, Tonye Cole, said it will take at least five years from now before Nigerians begin to experience uninterrupted power. Cole explained that there were certain areas needed to be improved upon before stable power would become reality.
According to him, one of such would be improvement in the way information is shared among key players in the sector for the next couple of years. He also said that pipeline vandalism in Nigeria had contributed hugely to the poor power supply.
“Anybody that vandalises a pipeline may vandalise the pipeline to go and sell crude somewhere thinking that he is making money, but each time he vandalises a pipeline, whether it is a gas pipeline or an oil pipeline, it affects everyone.
“But before we can get to a point where we don’t have to think about power because it is just there, it requires a lot of investment, a lot of capital has to go into that,” he stated.
Cole further explained that the power sector had taken a new shape with the taking over of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria by private owners, saying that the private companies still have to work with the government and the regulators to achieve realistic results.
“It is a new area and it is expected that laws and relationship between the regulators, investors and customers will be shaped along the way.
According to him, people need to understand the difference between generation and transmission and then the difference between transmission and distribution.
“Most people don’t know what these things are and as far as the customer is concerned, he wants just one thing, power. That is all. We will begin to see improvement within six months, but improvement in communication is the first thing that we need,” he explained.
Due to inadequate supply of gas operations of the new power stations built under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), which are currently undergoing privatisation, have been stalled, Vanguard learnt.
It was gathered that some units of most of the 10 medium-sized gas-fired power stations, which are expected to add 4,774MW of electricity to the national grid, have been completed and ready for test-firing. However, insufficient gas supply from NNPC is threatening the operations of the power plants.
Though the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) confirmed the repair of its gas-to-power supply pipeline that would lead to the re-injection of an equivalent of 1,505 MW of electricity into the national grid, the power plants would still have to contend with gas shortfall.
For example, the 634.5MW-capacity Calabar Power Plant, operated by Calabar Generation Company Limited, which has since been completed technically, has not been able to secure gas to test-run the plant for its inauguration as there are no indications that Addax Petroleum, which is billed to supply 100 million SCF, of gas per day to the facility, would deliver the gas this year.
Inadequate gas supply has also stalled the operation of the six-unit, 1,131 MW capacity Alaoji Power Plant in Abia State, which is the biggest plant under the NIPP. Vanguard learnt that four out of the six units of the plant, built by Rockson Engineering Limited, an indigenous contractor, have been technically completed but only two units are producing at sub-optimal capacity due to gas shortage.
Sources told Vanguard that without adequate gas to fire the four gas-powered units, the remaining two units, which will run on steam, cannot generate power. It was also learnt that as a combined cycle power plant, which runs on both steam and gas, the two steam turbines can only generate electricity when the four gas turbines generate enough steam to fire the two steam turbines.
According to a source “It is the four gas turbines that will fire the water boilers to produce steam that is used to operate the steam turbines to avoid waste of energy. Without gas to fire the four completed gas turbines, the two steam turbines cannot generate power.”
Source: Vanguard

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Daily Manna 2014: Are You In The Number? Tuesday 04, February 2014

Daily Manna 2014: Are You In The Number?
Tuesday 04, February 2014
TEXT: NEHEMIAH 7:5,6

Key verse: “These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city“ (Nehemiah 7:6).

Recording and strict documentation of events, incidents and dates are integral parts of accountability. They are inevitable in human life. More often, accounts relating to births, deaths, admission, dismissals, debts and payments are kept. God keeps a record of names of every believer in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 20:15).

In our text, Nehemiah thought it fit to have an account of the people. He found a register of the genealogy of those who had come up at the first. He found written therein those who had come back from the captivity. He called the rulers and the people, that he might have an account of the present state of their families: the number, strength and where they were settled. Having revived the old register to get the new established, he then compared the present account with the old.

We dare not underestimate the fact that God in heaven keeps and updates His records concerning us. It is evident from Scripture (Revelation 20:11-15), that God has a book of life and other books of reckoning. A believer’s name is removed immediately the person sins against God (Exodus 32:33). At the Great White Throne Judgment, people would be judged by God out of those things which are written in the books, “according to their works”. Whosoever is not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire.

Are you in the number of those whose names are in the Book of Life? Is your name already blotted out from the Book because of sin? What account is God keeping concerning your deeds? You need to settle the matter now and get your name written or restored in the only Book that matters, ‘THE BOOK OF LIFE.’

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Those who take heed to their souls will be spared the tremor of hell-fire.

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