NERC amends Zuma Energy’s 1,200mw power plant licences

Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has issued four on-grid licences to Zuma Energy Nigeria Limited to operate a combined 1,200 megawatts (MW) power plant at Itobe, Kogi State.

Each unit of the power plant has capacity to generate 300MW. This brings to two such licences issued for coal power generation this year.

Zuma’s licence is an amendment to an earlier one issued in 2011. The amendment is to enable it assign the licence to four different special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and ease of project finance.

Sam Amadi, NERC’s chairman/chief executive, said that Zuma Energy was a major stakeholder and a pathfinder in coal-powered generation, guiding Nigeria towards diversifying electricity generation.

“The beauty of Zuma licence is that it is guiding Nigeria towards diversifying power generation,” Amadi said. In line with the Transitional Electricity Market stage recently declared by the Commission, Amadi urged Zuma Energy to work towards securing a power purchase agreement through the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading so that it could commence operations in not too distant time.

He advised the company to expedite actions on its construction work with the same vigour with which it pursue its licences and make electricity available to Nigerians through the power plants.

The four entities are Itobe 1,300mw; Itobe 2, 300mw; Itobe 3,300mw, and Itobe 4, 300mw, all are coal powered plants.

Innocent Ezuma, managing director, Zuma Energy Power, in his response, said the amendment to an earlier licence which led to issuance of four different licences was for ease of implementation, saying “with this subdivision, it means we can commence work on two plants simultaneously.”

Responding to questions from the press over environment issues, Ezuma assured that the company was adopting the latest clean coal technology that had less smoke emission and minimal impact on the environment.

The NERC on Wednesday, February 18, 2015, also issued two on-grid electricity generation licences to KVK Power Nigeria PVT Limited and Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria Plc to generate electricity from solar and gas-flared, respectively.

KVT Power on-grid power is to be located in Yabo, Sokoto State, having met the requirements for the grant of 50MW on-grid generations with no objection received from the general public to their application, the licence has thereby been issued.

In the same vein, Aluminium Smelter Company’s application for an on-grid electricity generation in respect of a 360MW gas-fired plant at Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, and a permit in respect of a 180MW captive power generation in the same location was approved and issued after the review of an objection to the licence issuance by BFI Group, found not to be affecting the grant of the licence.