The Federal Government is considering channeling the unused power generation by Genesis Energy in the Port Harcourt Refinery to the national grid.
Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, made this known during his recent facility tour of the Genesis Energy company, at the Port Harcourt refinery in RiversState.
TheFact Daily reports that Genesis Energy operates an 84MW Gas-Fired Power Project at the NNPC Port Harcourt Refinery (PHRC).
The facility, powered by three GE TM2500+ gasturbines (25 MW each), is dedicated exclusively to supplying electricity to the refinery, guaranteeing a continuous and stable power supply essential for refining operations.
The plant operates under a structured scheme where at least two turbines run simultaneously while the third remains onstandby to ensure uninterrupted service and rapid response in the event of atrip. Since its commissioning in 2014, the plant has achieved over 99 percent availability with zero Loss Time Injury(LTI) incidents.
Speaking during the tour of the facility, the Ministerapplauded the partnership of the company with the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.), in their efforts to improve the electricity supply in thecountry.
He noted that the partnership would improve sufficiency, efficiency and reliability of power supply. Noting the federal government’s commitment to providing enabling environment for private sector participation in the power sector.
“All we need to do as government is just tomake sure that we make available the conducive atmosphere and environment forthe private sector investors to thrive. And to be very comfortable with bringing new investment and be assured of recovery of their investment.
“My visit today to the Power institutions,which is a partnership between Genesis Energy and the NNPCL, is to look at the facilities outside here and to see how the excess power being generated herecan be fed onto the national grid,” he said.
The Minister, according to a statement onWednesday by his Special Adviser on StrategicCommunications and Media Relations, Bolaji Tunji, noted that his visit would accelerate the take-off of the project and also to meet all the needed agreements to be entered into, saying “it’s something I believe within 90to 180 days it can all be concluded. What matters most is to conclude on the infrastructure arrangement to off-take the power from here and supply to thegrid”.
He added: “And again, commercial is very important. At what price, at what tariff are they going to be giving to Port Harcourt Disco to ensure that the power is taken up and supplied to end-usercustomers? Even at a price that will also be comfortable and convenient for theend-user customers. That is all they need to do. I don’t think this should taketoo long. Since I’m here today, we’ll track the talk and ensure that it takesoff very, very soon”.
The Minister expressed the readiness of theFederal Government to ensure that the relationship between private sector investors and government is smooth.
“There are a few things that we are doingas a government to ensure this. Number one is the regulatory environment, Imean the policy environment. You are all aware that we just launched the National Integrated Electricity Policy (NIEP).
“After two decades, we just havesuch comprehensive policy. So it is clear now to every investor what are theresponsibilities expected of them. What are the things expected of governmentto ensure that coming into the power sector is quite easy.
“And it is something that will not lead toloss to any of the private sector investors. So, we have a comprehensive policyin place for any investor to look through, understand before they come in.Number two is the regulatory environment, which to a large extent is beingconsistent and quite friendly to new investors.
Adelabu promised that whatever government neededto do that would make it easy for private sector investors to come in, “weare ready to do it. Because government cannot single-handedly fund the powersector in Nigeria.”
“The investment required is too huge for itto be left in the hands of government alone. So we are ready to do everythingpossible to attract investors, to ensure they support us, so that industries,businesses, households can have uninterrupted, functional and reliableelectricity”, he said.
The Minister expressed satisfaction with thefacilities available at the site, saying, “All I can say simply is that I’m quite impressed with the facilities I’ve met on ground. Given the age andthe operational hours of these facilities, and they are still in this form, I’mquite impressed that they are doing very well. All we want to eliminate is theinherent inefficiencies by ensuring that all those excess energy beinggenerated is taken off and given to where it will be used”.
“I believe once we use this as a proof ofconcept and it works well, I also believe that they have an expansion plan ofan additional 120 MW with commitments to build infrastructures, transmissioninfrastructures, to off-take this new huge energy supply, not only to PortHarcourt DisCo, but to the entire country at large. And I believe thatonce this initial proof of concept is successful, the new expansion willalso follow”, the Minister said.
