The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the Ministry of Water resources have partnered on the development of small and medium hydro projects in the country.
It said this became imperative considering its plans to set up small hydro plants on existing dams in the country, especially those in the northern part of the country.
The Managing Director, NDPHC, Mr Chiedu Ugbo, stated this when he led the Management Team on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Water Resources in Abuja.
He said: “We are here to pay you a courtesy visit and at the same time let you know what our programmes are with regards to renewable so that we can start discussing with your Ministry in earnest on how we can develop small hydro resources around the country, preferably, in the northern part of the country because of the quality of electricity in the area.”
He said although the company has ten power generation plants with eight linked to the national grid with about 4,099 megawatts, most are located in the southern part of the country and are unable to generate optimally due to poor transmission and distribution infrastructure.
According to him, not all of the 4,099MW generated power is taken in the grid due to transmission and distribution challenges.
He stressed that the Company has invested about 50 per cent in transmission and distribution assets in all states across the country.
“But having developed our thermal plants reasonably, we thought it is time to move to the next phase of our project development and that phase is where after optimizing gas resources, we have to optimize other resources we have for power generation,” he said.
The NDPHC CEO said the company was interested in the dams especially those with hydroelectric capabilities already installed or can be recovered.
Speaking during the meeting, the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Adamu explained that Nigeria has over 240 dams across the country with most having the capacity for hydropower.
The Minister who pointed out that the dams have a capacity from 40MW and below stated that most of the projects have been halted due to poor planning.
He explained that most irrigation projects in the country require a lot of water which also needs a lot of electricity to operate.
He, therefore, urged NDPHC to support the projects by installing solar projects at the irrigation areas.
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