March 28, 2018

General Electric (GE) says the fast mobile power plant still under construction at Afam 3 Power Plant in Rivers is capable of generating electricity with the use of condensate and natural gas.

The Managing Director in charge of Gas Power Systems (GP) Mr Mohammed Mijindadi said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Afam, Rivers.

He said the Afam 3 fast project – a 240 MW plant – would provide electricity for 1.5million Nigerians when completed.

“This is unique because the benefits of these units here is speed. Typically to build a power plant it takes a very long time, but with these units you can have power up and running in a very short time.

“So that is specifically why we did this.

“I think something else that is not really mentioned is there is the ability to run both natural gas and condensate and with all the volatility in the gas system in the country, the ability to run other fuels, I think it makes it really attractive; so for this it is very good.

“On the hydro space, we also have a lot of ability to play there and also on the solar space too.

“I think we play across many of the value chain in the power space.“

According to him, the project will be due for completion in July.

“A lot of things have been advanced on the site. On paper, we are saying July, but there are a few things on the government side which is securitisation; once it is done we are in the process of commissioning one of the units.

“And we think it can go quickly; what you see here is already done. Once the securitisation is in place, I think before July this should be up and running.“

He further said that the design for the Afam 3 fast power project could be replicated elsewhere in the country.

“I think when we started, we tried to create a model that could be replicated elsewhere, of course with the understanding that the government might not have a lot of money to fund the building of a lot of the units.

“So the structure I designed was a structure that if this works you could easily take it and  build it in other places.

“Remember that the things you are looking for are speed, flexibility – due to the uncertainty  of fuel availability – and of course financing, which is not readily available.

“So with a structure like this, without bothering the government, or GE, if you do it right you can replicate it in many places.“