Nigeria now produces more electricity than it did before the Federal Government linked the 700 megawatt Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant to the national grid.
After the 760MW Kainji Hydroelectric Power Plant, the 700MW Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant in Niger State is the largest hydroelectric power station.
On Thursday evening in Abuja, during a send-off ceremony for him and Goddy Jedy-Agba, the Minister of State for Power, Abubakar Aliyu, the Minister of Power, said that the plant had been connected to the grid.
“I would like to announce that the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant has officially been completed today (Thursday). We have today joined the grid with 700MW. The testing began last night, and information has already reached us with a picture of the meters demonstrating that 700 MW has been connected to the grid.
“Remember that the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power and I visited there over the past two weeks along with other members of the National Assembly. We all went to the site, and we’re now supplying electricity to the grid,” Aliyu added.
He continued by saying that the Kashimbila hydropower, a cooperative project of the federal ministries of power and water resources, has also been completed.
The Siemens electricity project for Nigeria under the Presidential Power Initiative is still in the planning stages, according to Aliyu.
“We visited the President of Siemens, and we had a dialogue with them to bring in equipment,” he continued, “as soon as I became the power minister. We erected some transformers, and as I speak with you they are operational.
“We recently brought in the mobile substation, which is very large and consists of approximately 10 of them and is being cleared at the ports. We are placing one in Ajah, Lagos. The initial one has already arrived at the Ajah substation and has been cleared.”