KEDCO targets 24-hour power supply with $2m mini grids project

Salim Umar Ibrahim, Kano

The Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has revealed plans to attain 24-hour electricity supply within its franchise states of Kano, Katsina and Jigawa as the company’s new core investors roll-out an ambitious plan to build up to 200MW of incremental capacity through 100 mini-grids and embedded generation.

This was made known by the company’s Board Chairman, Engr. Adamu Ibrahim Gumel, during a tour of one of the mini-grids sites at Zawaciki area in Kumbotso LGA in Kano State.

Gumel said: “Very soon, you will see these interconnected mini grids popping up everywhere within our network across Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa states, to augment electricity supply to our valued customers, while we prioritize bulk grid supply to industrial customers.”

The KEDCO chairman also added that they are equally looking at some key industrial clusters such as Tokarawa and Sharada for 24-hour supply through embedded generation, in line with their vision to enable re-industrialisation and economic empowerment of Kano and environs through improving the reliability and quality of power supply.”

The Zawaciki power plant was co-funded by members of KEDCO’s Core Investor Consortium, the World Bank (through the Nigerian Electrification Project with the Rural

Electrification Agency) and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet.

The $2 million interconnected mini-grid, said to be the largest of its kind in Nigeria, includes a 1MW interconnected solar-diesel hybrid solar plant; low voltage network revamp and rehabilitation; and metering for 2000+ consumers, he said.

Also speaking at the site, a representative from the new Core Investor Future Energies Africa and Director on the Board of KEDCO, Habib Daura, said they were in serious discussions with the institutional investors and the governments of Kano, Katsina and Jigawa to re-capitalise and re-position this entity to be the best performing DISCO in the country.