Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has signed bilateral Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with 12 companies under its Light Up Nigeria (LUN) initiative in a bid to boost electricity supply to businesses and homes in the country. The LUN is also intended to increase the pace of industrialization in the country. The PPAs are for a total of 250MW of power sale transactions. This was disclosed by the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the company, Mr. Chiedu Ugbo, at a media parley in Lagos.
The 12 companies involved in the PPA are Eko Electricity Distribution Plc, Compagnie d’Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET), Sunflag Steel Industries Limited, Wewood Limited, APLE Electric Limited, Pulkit Alloy and Steel Limited, ABV Utility Limited, Ayingba Independent Electricity Distribution Network Limited, Avatar New Energy Limited, Phoenix Steel Mills Limited, Agbara Industrial Area, and Ota & Shagamu Interchange.
According to Ugbo, six of the PPAs have gone live, two are yet to reach Commercial Operations Date (COD), the target COD for three is first quarter of 2024, while the target COD for the remaining one is second quarter of 2024.
In order to resolve the challenges confronting LUN, Ugbo said that NDPHC has had extensive engagements with all Discos operating in the country with the objective to sell the current capacity available and develop more. According to him, while the NDPHC has already negotiated and signed PPA with Port Harcourt Disco, its discussion with other Discos is progressing with some of them already resulting in signing of framework agreement.
In addition, Ugbo said they are exploring the opportunities to work with state governments (its major stakeholders) to harness its distribution investments in the states by leveraging on the recent constitutional amendment and the new Electricity Act 2023.
“To reasonably resolve the challenges to power plants’ operations and increase electricity supply to homes and businesses, NDPHC’s Light-up Nigeria initiative is to explore not only the opportunities under the Eligible Customer Regulations and Electricity Act 2023, but also bilateral power sales in collaboration with Discos and other bulk purchasers under trading arrangements that will ensure that investment is mobilized for end-to-end solutions that will guarantee that electricity is delivered to customers and NDPHC is paid for the electricity generated”, Ugbo said.