United States (US) power plant developer – Global Edison Corporation – is set to build a new 1,500 megawatts (MW) gas-fired plant in Anambra State, Nigeria.
The plant is expected to cost a total of $2.5 billion and will be fuelled by gas from the Nigeria’s eastern supply axis. The plant is part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Nigeria and the US president’s Power Africa Initiative.
The US President Barack Obama had last year unveiled the Power Africa Initiative, which aims to add at least 10,000MW of electricity to selected African countries. Nigeria is among the six countries selected to benefit from the initiative.
The MoU, which would outline the roles to be played by Nigeria and the US, was signed in Abuja by the US ambassador to Nigeria James Entwistle, and the minister of power, Chinedu Nebo, on behalf of both countries.
Also to be achieved through another MoU is a 70MW solar panel manufacturing plant to be built in Nigeria, and is expected to be the largest in West Africa.
The initiative is about transforming the lives of Africans through increased job opportunities to be created from better electricity supply, said Entwistle, saying further that the Power Africa Initiative “supports the strengthening of the energy sector through credit enhancement, grants, technical assistance and investment promotion efforts.”
The project, which is coming on the framework of the US government backed Power Africa initiative that was launched last year in Cape Town, South Africa by Obama, will be fully funded by Global Edison Corporation even though the company is part of beneficiaries of the initiative.
It was activated alongside with Nigeria’s formal signing of a MoU with the US to formally activate the Power Africa initiative which hopes to double the number of people with access to power in Sub-Saharan Africa, starting with six countries including Nigeria.
Through Power Africa, African governments, private sector and other development partners such as the World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB) are expected to improve their power generation by 10,000MW, by unlocking the substantial wind, solar, hydropower, natural gas, and geothermal resources in the region.
The initiative is aimed at further enhancing energy security, decrease poverty and advance economic growth by building up clean, efficient electricity generation capacity as well as expanding mini-grid and off-grid solutions.
FEMI ASU
