The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has renewed
the power generation licence for Afam VI Power Plant, a 650MW-capacity facility
that has delivered over 25.97 million Megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity into
the Nigerian grid since inception in 2008, reports ITRealms.
Afam VI is owned by The Shell Petroleum Development Company
Joint Venture (SPDC JV) and located in Afam in Oyigbo Local Government area of
Rivers State.
Presenting the renewed licence to the leadership of SPDC at the
Commission’s office in Abuja on Tuesday, the Commissioner, Legal,
Licensing and Compliance, Mr. Dafe Akpeneye, described SPDC JV as a committed
partner in the Nigerian power sector adding that the company’s belief in the
sector and its resolve to help it develop were remarkable.
“We hope for greater efficiency and improved operations from
Afam VI in the next 10-year phase of your operations just as we look forward to
working together to resolve some of the challenging issues in the power
sector,” he said.
Receiving the licence, the General Manager, Gas of SPDC, Dr.
Philip Mshelbila, described the Afam VI as a model worthy of emulation by
government and other players in the power sector. “Here’s a power plant with a
dedicated gas plant operating with high uptime generating clean and efficient
power from the combined cycle of three gas and one steam turbines.”
He lamented the challenges of debt, power evacuation and
off-take which he said prevented the plant from delivering optimally at 15
percent of the total national grid-connected electricity.
Afam VI uses combined cycle gas turbine technology that burns 40
percent less gas than plants using older open cycle technologies. This also
contributes significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In
2016, Afam VI power plant supplied approximately 12% of the nation’s grid-electricity.
Built with the most efficient technology in the industry and
utilising waste heat energy from the gas turbine exhaust, the plant generates
an additional 200MW from the steam turbine without consuming any additional
gas, thereby considerably reducing its carbon footprint.
As a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project under the United
Nations Executive Board for Climate Change, Afam VI Power Plant eliminates over
500,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, while also maintaining excellent safety
standards.
The operations at Afam VI have generated subcontract
opportunities and employment for over 150 people from the 16 host communities.
It also provided hands-on and offshore training for 30 youths in Electrical,
Mechanical and Instrumentation engineering on Combined Cycle Power Plant
operations and maintenance. All the trainees are already employed in the
Nigerian power industry.
The power plant also won SPDC the Best Company in Climate Action
Award in the 2016 edition of Sustainability, Enterprise, Responsibility Awards
for Corporate Social Responsibility (SERAs–CSR), an annual event to celebrate
organisations that invest resources to improve the socioeconomic living
conditions of people in Nigeria and Africa.
Ayo Midele/GEE
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Pix; L-R: Commercial Manager, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), John Kadiri; General Manager, Business and Government Relations, Bashir Bello; General Manager, Gas, Philip Mshelbila; Commissioner for Legal, Licensing and Compliance, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dafe Akpeneye; and the General Manager, Legal, Licensing and Compliance, Olufunke Dinneh, at the presentation of power generation licence for SPDC Joint Venture’s Afam VI Power Plant, in Abuja… on Tuesday.
