$556m hydro projects at various development stages in Nigeria
With ten hydro projects at various stages of development from procurement to implementation and a cumulative cost of $556million, Nigeria’s power sector situation looks to get make over when these projects come online.
Most of the projects are located in Northern parts of Nigeria where traditionally dams have been constructed because of challenges of getting water for irrigation. Only the Ikere Gorge Dam located in Ogun state is included in the project plan.
The projects are also offshoot of agricultural projects. For example the Gurara Hydro Power located in Kaduna is designed and constructed with the main purpose of supplying water to the Lower Usuma Dam in the FCT to meet the demand for water and contribute to addressing the gap in electricity supply in the northwest states in the country.
The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing plans to integrate a 30MW power plant into the Gurara Dam works, which is expected to produce 115 GWH of energy annually. The water from the Gurara reservoir will be used to produce hydroelectricity using the water that is available once the water supply demands have been satisfied.
All the projects have secured approval of the Federal Executive council in the past three years. The Ikere Gorge dam was approved on November 30, 2016 at the cost of $10milion. It is one of the two large dams constructed by the government, as part of the master plan for the comprehensive development of water resources potential of the basins of Ogun River. It is located 33 km northeast of Iseyin, in the Iseyin local government area of Oyo state. It is meant to generate 6MW of electricity for dam operation and rural electrification.
The Gurara Hydro Power was approved by the FEC on January 11, 2017, at the cost of $ 33.6million, the proposed model for the concessioning of the hydropower component of the dam will require one concessionaire to take custody of the project for a period of time as determined by the financial analysis
The projects also complete a critical balancing act in the communities they are located to help provide water as well as electricity. The Doma Dam regulates the flows of the Ohina River in Nasarawa state. It is a multi-purpose dam with the primary purpose of irrigation and domestic water supply. There is domestic latent annual demand for power of around 163GWH, or close to 19MW of installed capacity in addition to commercial and industrial demand.
A hydropower project in the vicinity will help in reducing dependence on costly and polluting options such as diesel generating sets. The project will boost power supply within the environs of the dam. It was approved by FEC on November 30, 2016.
The Dam and reservoir have been completed. The capacity of the project is 1.0MW, and it is proposed that the waters shall be diverted from the outlet portal of the dam after modifying the morning glorytype spillway into a pressurized power intake with proper submergence. It is estimated to cost approximately US$ 3.82 million, with a development period scheduled over a span of 12 months and a construction period of 24 months.
The services of the dam include provision of irrigation, hydropower generation, water supply, flood control, and fishing. The dam is 48 m high, 5,500 m long, and has a total reservoir capacity of 450 million cubic meters. The 150 km long network of irrigation canals is meant to support 8,000 ha of gravity-based irrigation and 23,000 ha of sprinkler irrigation.
The sprinkler irrigation is supported by 26 pump stations at 33/0.415 KV voltage level. The 3.2 MW small hydropower project on the Bakolori Dam has been proposed to be rehabilitated. Several studies have been conducted to evaluate the restoration and rehabilitation works of the small hydropower project on the dam.
Nigeria, with a population of 180 million people, has a total installed electricity generation capacity of 8,644MW. However, the peak generation is much lower at around 4,000MW. The reasons for the shortfall in generation can be attributed to the inadequate fuel supply to thermal plants, which constitute over 80% of the installed capacity; hydrological factors for hydropower stations; maintenance outages at power plants; and transmission and distribution outages.
The peak demand is forecasted at 12,800MW. When seen against the available power of less than 4,000MW, it is clear that there is a peak load shortage of more than 8,000MW. As a result, the available generation capacity is less than one-third of the total peak demand for electricity. This calls for new power projects to be implemented that are dependable, renewable, and cost-effective says the project document.