Four power firms get licences, target 774mw

By Michael Eboh & Chris Ochayi
ABUJA—The Federal Government, yesterday, licensed four power generating firms to produce a combined capacity of 774 megawatts of electricity.
The companies, according to Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, are: Pan Africa Solar Limited, Nigeria Solar Capital Partners Limited, Proton Energy Limited and Turbine Drives Limited.



To this end, the country earned $250,000 (about N50 million) from payments made by the companies before the issuance of the licences.
Specifically, Pan Africa Solar paid a licensing fee of $30,000 (about N6 million); Nigerian Solar Capital, $40,000 (about N8 million); Proton Energy, $60,000 (about N12 million), while Turbine Drives paid $120,000 (about N24 million).
The companies obtained the licence after satisfying NERC’s requirements for the award of the on-grid licence and making the necessary payments.
Pan Africa was licensed to generate 24 megawatts of electricity through a solar-powered Independent Power Plant, IPP, at Kankia, Katsina State, while Nigeria Solar was granted an on-grid electricity generation licence in respect of a 100 megawatts solar-powered IPP at Ganjuwa, Bauchi State.
In addition, Proton’s licence was in respect of a 150 megawatts gas-fired IPP at Ogorode, Sapele, Delta State, while Turbine Drives’ was in respect of a 500 megawatts gas-fired on-grid electricity IPP at Ajaokuta, Kogi State.
Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, while presenting the licences to the companies in Abuja, urged the owners to abide by the rules of the market.
He said: “The rules and procedures guiding the operations of the market were globally comparable. We will do our best to follow the rules, which are globally comparable.”