The Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, has been committed to bringing power to the door step of every community under its jurisdiction. Though tough, the company under the leadership of Mr. Chiedu Ugbo has been living up to this mandate.
NDPHC has kept with its mandate to improve electricity infrastructure in Nigeria. It has made visits to remote communities for location inspection, making discoveries that have helped them in improving electricity supply in the Niger Delta region.
Being Nigeria’s largest electricity generating company, with a total installed capacity of 4.0 gigawatts (GW), representing about 35% of Nigeria’s generating capacity, NDPHC is committed to strengthening Nigeria’s power sector, despite the unexpected logistical challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The company has been in the business of establishing power substations, one of the several initiatives of the company aimed at addressing energy poverty in the Niger Delta region. Substations play a critical role in the power industry. Substations support the transmission grid in moving power from generation sources to customer’s load, while electrical utilities use them for system protection, switching capabilities and more importantly, voltage transformations.
NDPHC Managing Director, Chiedu Ugbo is a Legal Practitioner and an infrastructure Regulation Specialist, with extensive experience in advising clients on electric power and gas-to-power, sea port and other transportation modes – including sector reforms, privatization and commercialization, concessions, project development and off-take agreements, etc. He specializes in Electric Power and Gas, Infrastructure, M&A, Privatisation, Public-Private Partnerships. Chiedu has been described as one of the few lawyers who truly understands the dynamics of the Nigerian electricity industry.
Recently, NDPHC, under his supervision began the construction of a 1×7.5MVA, 33/11kV injection distribution substation in Orogun, Delta State to boost power supply to the community. The injection substation has boosted access to energy in the region and consequently brought about enhanced economic activities and poverty reduction through enhanced income, health, education and improved environment.
The injection substation which is an NDPHC/National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) intervention project would also boost economic activities in the community. The project, a 1×7.5MVA 33/11KV injection substation, will step down power from the already existing 33KV line to 11kV, disclosing that the project involves the construction of 4km of 11KV line to distribute the power to the community.
According to him, seven distribution transformers will be installed also in the community. He stated that, with the injection substation in place, faults on the downstream line will not be allowed to trip the entire network.
Chiedu in his wisdom, has partnered with relevant stakeholders in the Niger-Delta region for development of electricity in the region. The new project mentioned above, being one of them, was made possible through the “passionate” intervention of the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege to have the project in the community.
NDPHC has also been engaging the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and has been assured by the DisCo that the project aligns with infrastructure upgrades in the community.
Apparently, the company under Ugbo’s leadership is making significant efforts to end energy poverty in Nigeria by facilitating the provision of electricity to rural communities across the country. It is achieving this through committed support from major stakeholders in the power sector, to be able to provide reliable power with exceptional support and services in these uncertain times.
NDPHC has been ensuring and maintaining the health and safety of its employees and suppliers. This has yielded in successful rehabilitation of power generations assets/plants and has helped increase gas turbines’ efficiency, while lowering emissions and providing essential power for industrialization, healthcare facilities, homes, schools and businesses in the Niger Delta region.
The objective has been to ensure that the number of people who use modern energy should increase to reduce social costs and to increase social benefits.
The project involves the construction of 7.5MVA, 33/11kV injection substation and 4km of 11kV lines with installation of 7nos 300KVA, 11/0.415kV Distribution substations and construction of 2.5km of low tension (LT) lines to take power to the door step of the community.
Benefits to derive from the project include, but are not limited to voltage control, localisation of faults and creation of job opportunities for the community.
The rehabilitation of three 9E.03 gas turbines, at two Niger Delta Power Holding Company’s (NDPHC) Power Plants in Calabar and Sapele, Nigeria is a feat to be proud of. According to NDPHC, these operations reduce the risk of unplanned downtime of its power generation equipment, enabling the plants to reliably secure and restore the supply of up to 360 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the national grid, the equivalent electricity needed to power approximately two million Nigerian homes. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, GE and NDPHC worked together to swiftly implement safety procedures to ensure a safe and on-time execution.
NDPHC’s efficiency was crucial to ensure the timely and safe completion of the outages at the sites, especially rural areas.
These and many more achievements are worth celebrating at NDPHC. We would bring you more in subsequent publications.
Olamide Adeniji is a member of the editorial team of TheScript Newspaper
