Zungeru hydroelectric plant completed, 700MW added to national grid – Minister
The Federal Ministry of Power has said that the 700 megawatts Zungeru Hydroelectric power project has been completed and the power generated from the plant added to the national grid.
This, the ministry said, will significantly fill the gap in the nation’s electricity demands.
According to a statement from the ministry yesterday, the completion and generation of power from the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power plant is a milestone achievement of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari which demonstrated a commitment to further improving power supply in the country.
The statement quoted the Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu, saying, “On Thursday, 25 May 2023, the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant became a reality. We have added to the grid 700MW. The testing started last on Wednesday 24 May and information has reached us, with a pictorial view of the meters showing that the 700MW has gone on the grid.”
On his part, consultant for the project, Engr Johnson Adewumi of Decrown West Africa Company Limited, said that “The combined Test Protocol for Zungeru HPP was carried out yesterday till the early morning of today. Generation with load started at 7am on 25/5/2023 and maintained till 1am today 26/5/2023 under the control of NCC and with TCN with Engineers of Federal Ministry of Power and Mainstream Energy in attendance. The plant was stable, no unusual vibration and all monitoring equipment produced results consistent with technical specification. The plant achieved peak capacity of 718MW. Good value.”
The Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant is the largest hydroelectric dam to be built in Nigeria since the commissioning of Kainji dam in 1968. It is situated on River Kaduna and has a total storage capacity of 11,700 million cubic meters of water.
Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Engr. Sanusi Garba said he was happy to report that the technical commissioning of the Zungeru power plant has not only added 700MW of clean generation capacity but significantly diversified the generation mix and enhanced the nation’s security of supply.