Nigeria’s Minister of State for Power, Mr. Goddy Jedy-Agba, has revealed that the country’s Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), will unlock about 25GW of electricity in the next five years. The Minister made the announcement during a webinar with the Energy Transition Council, a body under the United Nations.
Previously known as the Nigeria Electrification Roadmap (NER), the Presidential Power Initiative is a three-phased project that includes increasing Nigeria’s electricity generation output five-fold, revamping the power distribution and transmission systems in a massive construction project that promotes local skills and sustainable technology.
The PPI initiative was formed in 2018 by Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, during a working visit by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel and her business delegation which included Joe Kaeser, Siemens AG CEO.
“The Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) is a comprehensive programme targeted at the grid, transmission, distribution and grid communications projects that will modernise the grid and unlock 25GW of stable operable capacity over the next five years,” Jedy-Agba stated.
Nigeria is implementing a raft of reforms to ensure electricity supply reliability. According to statistics from the World Bank, only about 50% of Nigerians have access to electricity. While over 13 GW of grid power generation capacity is installed, only approximately 3.4 GW reaches consumers on average. The country would need to improve its electricity availability factor to meet its growth ambitions.
Siemens Energy’s contract with the Presidential Power Initiative
In February this year, Siemens Energy and the Nigerian Government signed a contract for the pre-engineering phase of the Presidential Power Initiative. The pre-engineering phase contract includes; Engineering design, Finalizing project specifications, Commissioning works for transmission & distribution systems and others.
The Nigerian government is hoping the power reforms it is implementing will make its power market very attractive and competitive for investors and aid its COVID-19 economic recovery plan.
“I am saying all of this to show that we are prioritising private investments and committed to create an environment that allows the private sector to invest and achieve commercial returns, while the government will focus on implementing plans and reforms that accelerate the pace of electrification and economic growth,” said Nigeria’s Energy Minister, Mr. Goddy Jedy-Agba
“We recognise the need to have a broader energy transmission roadmap that is based on data to align efforts across the energy and other heavily emitting sectors onto a path for achieving SDG7 by 2030 and net-zero by 2050, Jedy-Agba he added. “I will like to thank the energy transition council for helping us secure support to develop Nigeria’s own energy transition plan,”
Nigeria is looking to improve power generation to at least 7,000MW before the end of the fourth quarter of 2021.
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