MAN, Power Firm Plan 30MW Plant

• MAN, Power Firm Plan 30MW Plant

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has said it will partner ASB Valiant Company Limited to develop a 30-megawatts independent power plant to provide electricity to its member companies.

The plant, which will be located along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, is expected to supply power to MAN members and industries on the Makun corridor.

MAN said the initiative became necessary to bring down manufacturers’ costs of production as they continued to depend on generators to power their facilities because of the poor supply from the grid.

At a meeting organised by MAN on Wednesday in Lagos, chief executive officers at the Makun Industrial Cluster interacted with ASB Valiant Company to hear the project’s value proposition and the solutions to the challenges MAN members in the cluster were facing on power supply.

The Chairman, Manufacturers Power Development Company Limited, Mr. Ibrahim Usman, said, “One of the things our member companies have been experiencing that really erode their bottom line is the cost of power. We looked at this and we said the best thing to do was to have a power company that would facilitate the provision of power to our members.”

Usman, who was represented by a director on the MPDC board, Francis Meshioye, said, “We will be willing to really partner ASB Valiant Compan y as long as it will be willing to do its utmost best to ensure that we have uninterrupted power supply to our member companies within its area.”

The Managing Director, ASB Valiant Company Limited, Mr. Ayodele Ikumapayi, who described MAN as one of the most credible organisations in the country, said, “So, for them to then look at partners to help meet the needs of their members, I think the major consideration is with respect to the service that we have to offer; it is a win-win situation for both parties.

“They have created a platform to coordinate their members into a cluster; so instead of us going to each member to provide solution, which is sometimes not cost-effective and not even sustainable, now you have the opportunity to be able to centralise that operation and distribute to multiple members with the involvement of the distribution companies.”

MAN said it had, through the MPDC, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tower Energy Systems and Solutions Limited to generate 10MW of electricity for MAN members in the Henry Carr Industrial Cluster in Ikeja, Lagos.

The project, which is in phases, will start with an initial capacity of 3MW, for which power purchase agreement has been signed, according to the association.

It said the Makun IPP had progressed to the stage where potential off-takers needed to sign the PPA so that the developer could move on with necessary plans to mobilise to site, while ensuring a seamless relationship with Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company in line with the declaration of eligible customers by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.