IPP: Obasanjo switches
on 150mw Omoku power plant in Rivers
By CHIDI NNADI
Monday, December 11, 2006
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150 Megawatts Omoku Gas Turbine
Power Plant in River State
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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History was made in Rivers State on December 5, when President
Olusegun Obasanjo officially switched on the Omoku Gas Turbine
Power Plant, Switchyard and 132 kV Double Circuit Transmission
Line built by the state government.
It has been the desire of the president to increase power
generation in the country from the low level of 3,000 megawatts
to 10,000mw before he leaves office next year.
Therefore, Obasanjo could not hide his joy as he commissioned
the 150mw Omoku plant, saying that Governor Peter Odili has
done well for his people and is surely one of those governors
who always give him a helping hand.
His words: “ Through the completion of this critically
important electricity power generation project, the government
of Rivers State, under the leadership of Dr Peter Odili, has
recorded a major landmark in our nation’s desire to
boost the power sector, which is vital to accelerated and
sustained economic growth.”
The President averred that any nation seeking economic viability
must have a self-sufficient power sector, pointing out that
when in 1999 his administration came into being, the nation’s
power sector was comatose despite the significant input he
had made in the sector investment-wise, when he was military
head of state.
He, therefore, stated that providence has again offered him
the opportunity to preside over the resuscitation of the nation’s
power sector.
“ I feel a huge sense of gratification that our administration’s
commitment to reviving and revamping the power sector is finally
yielding dividends. From a total general capacity of less
than 1,500 megawatts for the entire country when we came on
board in 1999, the country would be generating in excess of
10,000 megawatts before the end of 2007,’’ he
said.
Obasanjo disclosed that unprecedented levels of resources
had gone into the rehabilitation and expansion of the transmission
and distribution network and facilities across the country
to boost power supply.
These efforts, he said, have been complemented by the increased
generation by oil companies Independent Power Plant (IPP)
projects driven by the new policies enunciated by his administration.
He, therefore, saluted Odili and the Rivers government for
successfully embarking upon and executing the IPP, which,
he said, was initially greeted with much doubt and skepticism.
“I salute the governor’s courage and determination
to pursue this vision despite misgivings in many quarters
about the capacity of a state government to embark on such
a complex and hugely expensive project, along with its other
important competing obligations”, he said.
In his welcome speech, Governor Odili said that he was happy
his state became the first in the country to deliver on the
IPP.
The governor said that the amendment of the Concurrent List
in the Constitution in 1999 spurred them into power generation.
He recalled when in October 2002, the state government installed
the Trans-Amadi Turbine Plant, which is currently being upgraded
together with the Eleme Power Plant, both hoped to generate
additional 100mw.
Odili disclosed that the rehabilitation of the above mentioned
two plants and the construction of the Omoku Gas Turbine Plant
gulped well over N50 billion.
With the switching on of the Omoku plant, he said his state
would be generating over 400mw of power, stating that his
state’s public power supply would never be the same
again.
The Omoku plant is a 6x25mw power plant with its contract
awarded in two phases. The first phase of four units was awarded
in November 2000, while the second phase of two units was
awarded in 2004.
Although the phase one of the project was awarded in 2000,
the civil works comprising the dredging of sand from the Urashi
River, sand filling, compacting and main civil works and foundation
lasted for over 18 months.
Every structure in the site is said to be rested on piles
(952) driven about 16 metres deep into the ground.
The Omoku power plant is also said to be the largest ever
built by any state government in the country and is designed
to serve as a point load centre with state-of-the-art equipment
modeled after similar plants in Europe.
An important feature of the Omoku plant is that it is a three-package
station having installation of 6x25mw power plant, construction
of switchyard; and construction of control room.
The choice to site the plant at Omoku in the Ogba\ Egbeda
\ Ndoni Local Government Area was said to have been informed
by the fact that Omoku sits on massive gas reserve.
The plant shares a common fence with Nigeria Agip Oil Company
(NAOC) Obio Obio Gas power plant and is connected from NAOC.
The siting of the power plant at Omoku satisfies a logical
and cost effective economic principle of nearness to source
of raw materials even as it is cheaper to construct a shorter
pipeline than to have it run through swampy and marshy land.
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