240MW Afam III Plant for Inauguration Next Month

• 240MW Afam III Plant for Inauguration Next Month

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Afam Power Plc, Olumide Obademi, has announced that the $186m Afam III Fast Power project will be ready for inauguration next month.

According to him, construction work on the plant, which targets adding 240 megawatts of electricity to the country’s power grid, is currently in its final stage.

He said that the Afam III Fast Power consisted of eight turbines, explaining each of the turbines had a capacity of 30MW and put their cumulative capacity at 240MW.

The project, located on the premises of Afam Power Plc in Rivers State, would provide electricity for about 1.5 million households across the country, Obademi said.

The Afam III Fast Power Project is being executed by General Electric, after the firm had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government in 2016 for the speedy construction of a power plant within a space of about two years, as against the normal four years’ requirement for projects of similar magnitude.

He said the Federal Government signed the MoU with General Electric in 2016, requesting the GE to supply fast power in line with the government’s incremental electricity programme.

Obademi said, “By January 2017, the civil work commenced in preparation for the arrival of eight GE TM 2500 turbines and the auxiliaries with a total capacity of 240MW of 30MW each. Before the end of 2017, all the eight turbines and the auxiliaries had arrived at the site. Installation and assembling commenced immediately.

“Presently, the installation of the turbines and generators has been completed, while the installation of the auxiliaries is in progress and about 90 per cent completed. Similarly, the job on the 132KV switchyard for power evacuation is nearly completed.”

Obademi explained that the Afam Power Plc was chosen for the fast power project, as the old Afam III plants had been scrapped, removed and carted away.

“In addition, there are existing gas supply lines on this project site, nearness to gas flow station, power evacuation lines, among others,” he added.

Commenting on the delivery of the mobile power turbines at the station, the Chief Executive Officer, GE Nigeria, Lazarus Angbazo, said the GE was also providing electrical balance of plant, installation and inauguration services, as well as qualified training to the plant operators and the ministry of power technical team.

“This is a direct response to the Nigeria Energy Fast Power Intervention Initiative and we are committed to supporting the government’s strategy,” Angbazo said.

He noted that the TM 2500 generator, which was trailer mounted, could also be installed faster than traditional power plants, adding that this had made it suitable to meet Nigeria’s growing energy demand.